


Depth of the Northwest

by equilateral_asshat



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Drug Use, Multi, Pinecifica, Pinescifica, Raunchy Stuff in Chapter 4, pinecest - Freeform, pinescest - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-16
Updated: 2018-12-16
Packaged: 2019-09-20 07:42:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 32,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17018556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/equilateral_asshat/pseuds/equilateral_asshat





	1. Chapter 1

**~You Are Cordially Invited~**

**To come and have one too many**

**At the Northwest’s private beach house!**

**That’s right, Daddy forgot to take my keys to this one away**

**So let’s get ‘turnt up’**

**And party from sundown to sunup!**

**♥Pacifica♥** **  
**

Mabel flipped the invitation over and over again, scrutinizing every little centimeter. There was no way this thing was real. First of all, Paz would never say “turnt up”, let alone write it on something her name was attached to. Secondly, the invite arrived two days before the aforementioned party and Pacifica had never sent an invitation to anything so down to the wire. She was always certain people knew months in advance so they could take time off from work and plan around her giant, fancy parties. Third, and final, Pacifica wasn’t a heavy drinker. She had the liver of a prepubescent child, and typically avoided drinking too much at her parties, let alone “one too many”.

All the same, her signature was on it, as well as the pink shade of lipstick she wore, pressed to the card in a smooch, just under the beach house’s address, and date of “July 30th” on the back. The matte white cardstock wasn’t just printed on, but embossed with the golden-inked lettering. And it was in Pacifica’s favorite curly-lettered font, to boot. As much as some of the evidence pointed to this being some sort of ruse or falsified invite, just as much pointed to it being legit. Mabel couldn’t figure out this puzzle and groaned.

“What’s got you all growly?” Dipper asked from their couch, where he sat reading. Mabel marched over and stuck the invitation in front of the paragraph he was reading, which caused him to frown; how did she ALWAYS know just where to put stuff when she did that?! He plucked it up and set his book face-down on the coffee table. His sister watched his eyes dart over the brief text, then flip it over, and back again. “Is… this real?”

“That’s what I was wonderin’,” she muttered, leaning against her twin brother’s shoulder. “I mean, the lettering and the lipstick and all that sure seems like her, but the way it’s written and junk?”

“Since when does Pacifica ‘I have a family image to uphold’ Northwest use the phrase ‘turnt up’?!” Dipper grumbled, face contorting into a look of confusion with just a hint of disgust.

“I know right?! Or drink at all?!” The look on Dipper’s face matched Mabel’s emotions; a hint of skepticism with a moderate serving of worry.

“Plus we haven’t heard hide nor hair of Paz since what, just before the holidays? She just seemed to drop off the face of the earth for a little over half a year, and now she’s sending us an invite like this?” He flicked the card with his free hand’s index finger, as if attempting to dispel whatever illusion might be creating it. “This doesn’t add up.”

While Dipper spoke his disbelief, Mabel had fished out her cell phone and hastily dialed up Pacifica’s number from her contacts, then started texting.

 _ **So Dip n I got an invite from u to a party? Is this for real?**_ She clicked send, Dipper still scrutinizing everything he could about the card in his fingers. A quiet buzz signaled the receipt of a text, and Pacifica’s face on the screen confirmed it was from their rich friend.

_**Sure is! U 2 gonna show?! :D :*** _

Mabel stared at her phone in stark disbelief. Paz was using _smileys_?! Who was this doppelganger?! She elbowed her brother in the ribs, and a grunt of disapproval was his first response.

“Dip I think she’s being serious,” she muttered, turning the phone to show him the text chain. Dipper frowned as he stared at the message.

“Are we sure she hasn’t been replaced by some doppelganger monster? She never uses smiley faces,” he pointed out, causing Mabel to nod.

“My thoughts exactly, broseph. I’m kinda worried for her, yanno?” His sister’s worried frown, coupled with her teeth digging at her lower lip, seemed to reflect his own personal worries. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and buried his nose in her shiny brown hair.

“Me too. Tell her we’re going to show up. We need to see what’s making her act like… this.” Mabel nodded and fired off a confirmation text, then turned and nosed up under her brother’s chin affectionately. He planted a soft kiss on her forehead, and she hummed her appreciation.

The tender interaction between them managed to distract them both from their worries, for a moment. It might not exactly be the definition of what most people would call an ideal relationship, but the beyond-sibling-bond that the Pines twins had developed in recent years had blossomed into more. Much more. The fact that sister-and-brother were also girlfriend-and-boyfriend was information that they had not dared to share with anyone else. At least not yet. They had managed to mask getting an apartment together as “saving money while attending school in the same town” to their parents, who had relented that at least the two were thinking fiscally. The last time they had visited their great uncles in Gravity Falls, they had been incredibly careful to avoid acting any closer than they had previously.

On a few occasions, Stanley had given the two a quizzical look, whether to a hug that lasted a moment too long, or fingers knit together while sitting in his beat up chair watching his old TV. Ford, on the other hand, seemed oblivious to social norms, and seemed to think nothing of their behavior. Perhaps his time spent on the other side of the portal had robbed him of his perceptions of what could be considered sibling behavior versus courtship behavior. That or, he knew more than he let on, but said nothing and gave no signs.

Thinking of their fortune, of having not been found out yet in such a delicate, taboo situation made Dipper think harder about Pacifica’s invitation. She had invited both of them, on one invite. How did she know they lived together? Or, better yet…

“Did you ever give Pacifica our address?” he asked. Mabel sat up, eyes darting side to side as she thought the question over.

“I… No. She never acted like she wanted to know where we were at yet, since she was busy with school.” Mabel leaned over to the coffee table and picked up the envelope it had been in, which was addressed to both of them. “She even put both of our names on the address? The heck?”

Dipper held out his hand and she handed him the envelope. He looked over the address and felt some of the color drain from his face. “She didn’t just put both of our names, she addressed it to ‘Mr. and Mrs. Dipper and Mabel Pines’.” Mabel’s confused look told him she didn’t catch on. “Mabes, it says _missus_ , as in married.” Her face blanched faster than he felt his had.

“But… we haven’t even seen her in so long and not even the Grunk’s know about us, she couldn’t… she _CAN’T_ have figured us out, right?!” Dipper merely shook his head.

“Guess we’ll see in two days…”

———

———

Pacifica ran a brush through her long hair, humming as she watched herself in the mirror. Her eyeliner, eyeshadow and mascara were perfect. Her lipstick had been meticulously applied. Once she was convinced she had her hair sufficiently groomed, she gave her outfit for the party a once-over.

A blue mini skirt that seemed too short, check. A black  tank top with spaghetti straps and a very low neckline, check! A royal purple overshirt, only buttoned up three buttons high to let the cleavage her tank top showed off show through, double check. She wasn’t going for refined, not tonight. Tonight, she would show off just what her parents never wanted her to; everything their “perfect pedigree” genetics had generated, displayed in the way they had dreaded. This would not be the robot child they had raised. She was her own person now, and everyone was going to see that.

Finished with her appearance, she stepped over to a painting and swung it wide on its hidden hinges, revealing a moderately sized wall safe behind it. Pulling out a key, she undid the lock on the panel over the keypad, punched in the combination, and turned the handle. With a loud clunk, the heavy door swung open. She pulled out several baggies, grinning to herself as she stuffed them and their precious (to her) contents into her cleavage. There would be booze and some softer “refreshments” for the other guests, but these? These were all for her.

A malicious giggle rose in her throat as she gave her outfit a second once-over, adjusting a seam here or a hem there. She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and smiled at herself in the mirror. Tonight she would try to do the one last thing she could to separate herself from the legacy of her family name. And the two people she needed to help her the most had agreed to come.

———

———

“Is this the place?” Mabel stared out the passenger window of her and her brother’s beat up van; they might not have the sexiest vehicle but it got them from point a to point b reliably, and it had room in the back for “snuggletime” as she liked to put it. Roughly a dozen or so other vehicles were parked along the long drive, which led up to a large house along an expanse of beachfront.

The tall, white building was framed by palm trees along either side, and the sound of music droning from within was unmistakable. People out in front of the house were hauling coolers and other things up to the door, while others had already parked themselves on the front of the property to start the festivities outside, gathered around metal washtubs packed with ice and beer. This felt very unlike one of Pacifica’s usual parties.

“I’m starting to hope it isn’t,” Dipper noted, a look of concern scrunching his face up. “But, if it is, at least we can see just what Pacifica is up to.”

Upon reaching the front door, they noted that there was a smell of burnt grass in the air, as well as a slight haze of smoke. Dipper grimaced, and Mabel held the sleeve of her sweater against her face to block the odor, catching her brother’s eye with a worried glance. Immediately he grasped her free hand in his as they sifted through the crowd.

The further through the house they went, the louder the music got, the bass rattling things on shelves and causing Dipper’s innards to twist and throb uncomfortably. He felt Mabel squeeze his hand nervously a few times. This was most definitely not the kind of party they remembered Pacifica throwing. People were drinking, smoking, and he was fairly certain he just noticed somebody snorting white powder off of that girl’s shoulder, ugh.

“PINES!” The shout caused both of the twins to spin around and gawk at the source, each of them giving the other a nervous quirk of the eyebrows, as if to ask _Really? Is that Paz?!_ She was dressed so revealingly, and the heels she was clacking around on seemed dangerously tall. More so when they noticed how she stumbled while approaching. “I’m, I’m so glad you made it! I haven’t seen you in so long!”

She grabbed them both in a quick hug, and they shared another confused look over her shoulders. She smelled just slightly of hard liquor, and her eyes looked like they were having trouble focusing. Mabel squirmed slightly; she did not like seeing an old friend in this state.

“Paz are… are you doin’ okay?” she asked, breaking the hug to hold the blonde girl out at arm’s length. She looked from one twin to the other, her eyebrows knit before her eyes widened and a loud peal of laughter bubbled out of her throat.

“O’course I’m okay! I’m feelin’ GREAT. Mommy’n’daddy can’t tell me what to do, ha!” Dipper flinched, his mind piecing together a little bit of what was happening here.

“Pacifica, are you drunk? You’re drinking THAT much, already? I thought the party didn’t start until half an hour ago.” She waved off his question, smirking.

“I’m j-jus’ a little buzzed is all. I’ll be fiiine.” Nearly on cue, she stumbled a bit, both twins moving to catch and hold her upright. “Whoopsie! Haha, who keeps movin’ the floor?”

“Paz who are all of these people? And since when do you let anybody smoke indoors, let alone whatever it is they’re smoking,” Mabel demanded. Pacifica frowned at the Pines girl. Those brown eyes cut right through her; obviously Mabel was having none of her shit.

“Most of’em are from school, and then there’s friends of theirs, and some of them pr… probably brought other folksh along but they all brought booze and stuff sho hey who cares, the more the mer… merrier!” Her words were starting to slur. She couldn’t hold up the facade of being remotely sober or “just buzzed” if she kept messing up like that. _Get it together, Pacifica. You won’t be able to talk anyone into anything if you can’t talk at all._

“Okay, uh, let’s just get you sat down someplace and Mabes will chit chat with you, while I get you some water, alright?” Dipper said, gently grasping at Pacifica’s wrist. She pouted, shaking her head.

“Nooo I’m fiiiine,” she weakly protested, but she followed along, heels clopping as the twins found a couch in a surprisingly quiet corner of the house. Mabel tugged Pacifica to sit with her, while Dipper set back off in what he hoped was the direction of the kitchen.

Along his journey to find it, he had to dodge or turn down offers from a few other party attendees, trying to push cups of sweet-smelling liquid into his hands, or hand-rolled joints, and one person even tried to demand that if he was here, he was here to get “fucked up, dude” and tried to shove a tiny plastic cup of pills into his grip. That one, with regrets of how it would affect his image of sobriety, he took, swiftly dumping the contents into the trash when nobody was looking his way. That was one less dose of illegal schlock he had to fret over. Just when he felt his current task was impossible, he managed to step backwards into the kitchen.

A few girls and a couple of guys, all of them either drunk, high or some combination of the two were occupying the space as well. Dipper paid them no mind at all, and they seemed all too happy to return the favor. He rooted through the fridge, extracting three bottles of water and headed back in the way he came, clutching the trio of refreshments to his chest under one arm possessively. People in this place were being grabby, and he was not about to share what might be the only three non-alcoholic drinks in the building with anybody but Pacifica and his sister.

During Dipper’s excursion, Mabel made the attempt to get through to the loopy blonde she was babysitting. Pacifica was being very, very handsy. This worried her more on the grounds that her Paz was never very touchy-feely. She would give a quick hug, or a peck on the cheek, but otherwise seemed to abhor physical contact. This Pacifica acted like she was trying to imitate a towel, wrapping herself around Mabel closely, her own cheek pressed to the Pines girl’s.

“Y… you’re cute, did I ever tell you you’re cute?” Mabel winced, frowning as Pacifica’s breath hit her. Oh sweet Time Baby, this girl wasn’t just drunk, she was sloshed. She carefully unraveled the blonde’s arms and sat her back up.

“Um, thanks Paz, but really, why are you acting like this? You never drink like this. You never party with people so…” she noted, trailing off as her eyes scanned the room, falling from one group of college kids doing one illegal thing to the next. “So low-class.”

“Whaaat? Nooo, these are my… my peeps! They have all the fun stuff,” Pacifica mumbled, twisting around and flopping on her back, her head landing in Mabel’s lap. Mabel stared down at her, frowning, and Pacifica just smiled back and lifted a hand to pat Mabel on the cheek. “Oh man, how are you so shoft?”

With a gentle, but firm and guiding pressure, she grasped Pacifica by the wrist and pulled her hand away. This was _not_ her Paz. This was an impostor, a pod person, a wolf in sheep’s clothing, or any one of those other idioms that her twin might come up with. She pulled the blonde girl back up to a sitting position.

“Pacifica, what’s wrong?” The blonde girl could only blink; she didn’t have an answer this time, it seemed. Her eyes darted around, as though she were trying to seek out an answer from somewhere else in the room. Mabel set her hand on her friend’s shoulder. “Pacifica…”

“Hmm? Nothin’… Nothin’s wrong, Mabel,” the blonde mumbled, and dark blue eyes locked onto the honey-brown eyes of the Pines twin. Pacifica’s lips pressed together in a thin line, and the way her jaw wiggled implied she was licking them inside of her mouth. Mabel was frozen in place, both waiting for an explanation and wondering what was going through her friend’s head, in regards to the party and the way she was staring at the moment. If Mabel didn’t know any better, she’d swear Pacifica was staring at her lips.

“Paz, hello? Earth to Paz, what’s gotcha all locked up like th-” she started to ask, but the blonde leaned in and pressed her lips to Mabel’s. Her body went stiff, lips unmoving. She broke the kiss first, leaning back, a hand on each of Pacifica’s shoulders, gently pushing her out to arm’s length. “Hey, whoa, hey, meow-wow what uh, what’s all that about?”

“I’m sorry, I jus… you’re so soft and your lips looked so soft and you’re a really really nice friend and I know you’re worried about me…” The words spilled from her lips nonstop, and Mabel pouted as she tried to make sense of it all. She noticed tears welling in the corners of Pacifica’s eyes as she turned away, leaning forward and holding her head in her hands. She let go of her head to cross her arms over her midsection, leaning further down as the start of a sob caused her body to shake. Before Mabel could get another word out, Dipper stepped up, clinging tightly to three bottles of water, a smear of lipstick across one cheek.

“People here sure are desperate to get me drunk or high at any cost, or take these from me,” he groused, handing Mabel one of the bottles. As she took it, he crouched down, kneeling in front of Pacifica “How you holding up, princess? I brought you some water.”

She tilted her head up, tears having left tiny streaks through her makeup. Dipper squinted, one hand cupping gently under her chin and lifting her face level with his. He frowned, looking from one eye to the next. She started to blush under his gaze, squirming a bit.

“I… I’m fine, I just need something to drink, yeah,” she said, shifting to reach for a bottle of water. Before her fingers could touch the plastic, one of the baggies she had stashed earlier tumbled from cleavage to floor. Her world froze, a look of terror crossing over her face. Before she or Dipper either one reacted, Mabel had bent down and snatched it up, looking closely at the contents.

“Paz, honey, no, no no no no,” she moaned, forcing the Northwest girl to sit up with a hand on her shoulder. “Drinking is one thing, but this? This garbage is not you. This is not my friend. How much more of this is there?” Pacifica went tight lipped, refusing to meet her friend’s eyes. Mabel snapped her fingers. “Young lady, I’m not going to stay friendly about this, how much more of this crap have you got? I’ll go fishing in there for it if I have to.”

With a groan, Pacifica stuck her free hand down her top and tugged loose a few more baggies, and Mabel’s heart sank; one of the baggies was empty. Dipper held out his hand in curiosity, and Mabel set one of the bags in his palm. He stared at the contents, which looked like a few pink pills and some pressed candy tablets.

“What is…?”

“Looks like party drugs to me, Dipper,” Mabel quietly noted. Pacifica merely gave a short nod, tears flowing faster down her face. “How long ago did you take that first dose?”

“Ab-about t-two, m-maybe three hours ago,” Pacifica admitted, speaking through sobs. Dipper felt the color in his face drain away. He motioned for Mabel to hand him the rest, and she did so swiftly, glad to be rid of it. “Pl-please don’t call my parents, I-”

“No, hell no. Fuck that, I’m not getting those morons involved in this. I don’t even want to think about or know what they’d decide to do with you. I’m flushing this, and we’re figuring out how to get everybody else out of this house right now.” Mabel stared at Dipper, his eyes scanning the room as he tried to formulate a plan. “How the heck do we get these people to leave already?”

“One moment, bro bro.” Mabel stood up, cleared her throat, cupped her hands around her mouth, and then shouted as loudly as she could. “HOLY SHIT SOMEBODY CALLED THE COPS.”

Immediately the party turned into a stampede, people stumbling away, racing to escape their impending-but for now imaginary-incarceration. Within ten minutes, the house was empty but for the three of them and the wreckage from the party. Beer bottles, discarded joints, red plastic cups and more littered the floor and furniture. Dipper could only stare at his sister, who smiled weakly.

“Hey, gotta put the fear in’em. Now let’s get this girl cleaned up.”

He nodded, both of them hooking one of her arms around their own shoulders and lifting her up off of the couch awkwardly. “Paz, dear, where’s the bathroom?”  
  
“Which one?” she mumbled in reply. Mabel sighed heavily; she should have known better than to word it so simply.

“Where’s the _closest_ bathroom?” Pacifica nodded at the hallway, and both twins started off that direction, the drunken, high blonde wobbling between them. When she grumbled and nodded to their right, they turned through an open door into a spacious bathroom.

Dipper and Mabel both gawked for a moment or two; everything in the room was white. The marble vanity, the tub, the toilet, every piece of plumbing fixtures or light fixtures, all of it white. The dimmed lighting was all that kept it from being blinding.

“Here, let her sit down here. I’ll go find her some clothing,” Mabel said, both of the twins maneuvering Pacifica to sit on the toilet lid. She whimpered, tears still trickling from her eyes every so often. Mabel frowned, placing a kiss on the top of the blonde’s head, and then motioning a concerned nod to her brother, who returned the gesture. Mabel turned and walked out of the room, paused, leaned back in to see her brother kneeling in front of Pacifica, smiled weakly, and then went back to her search for a change of clothes for the rich girl.

 _Man… that kiss she tried to gimme on the couch felt more like a ‘Hey I totally wanna do more than kiss you’ kiss. It was kinda like the first time Dipper kissed me._ She felt her smile grow wider at that memory. Her brother had just taken her to eat at her favorite restaurant, then to see a movie she had been babbling about nonstop. She had thanked him for the wonderful evening, wondering why he seemed so tense, when he had leaned in and planted one on her. The initial shock, at first, left her terrified. Was he really making that sort of move, on his own sister?

 _We didn’t talk for two days afterwards, either. Oof, I wonder if I apologize for that whole mess too much…_ She had made a point of avoiding her brother at any given moment for the next couple of days after that entire incident. And he seemed intent on avoiding her as well. He had been more skittish than his usual self. If her bedroom door even creaked on its hinges, his slammed shut hurriedly. She was trying to process what had happened. Her brother, on the other hand, seemed as though he was turning inward, and hating on himself rather than being upset with her. And she couldn’t really have blamed him, as what he had done, that risk? That was huge. He was probably tearing himself apart. He probably thought she hated him. _Pretty sure I put those thoughts to bed pretty hard, though._

It was true, she had done just that. On the third day, she half-cornered him in the hallway before he could reach his bedroom door and tried to talk to him about it. He kept trying to squeeze past her, to no avail, and saying that he was sorry for ‘being so fucked in the head’ and ‘he was just trying to leave her alone so she could forget how gross her own brother was’ and other things of that nature. When it was clear to her that he wasn’t going to listen, she took action. She snatched him by the collar of his shirt and yanked him in, planting her lips to his.

That time, he froze up, unsure how to react. When he seemed to realize what was happening he finally returned the kiss, and well, everything since then had been one hell of an adventure. She caught herself smiling at the memory as she finally stepped through the third doorway she had tried, into a large bedroom. Yep, this looked like the right one. In an instant, Mabel started digging through the dresser drawers and closet to find a suitable change of clothing.

———

———

Dipper frowned as soon as Mabel was out of sight. He turned to Pacifica and sat on the floor in front of her, trying to get her to meet his gaze. Instead, she stared at the floor with a staunch refusal to look him in the eye, her mascara starting to run.

“Pacifica, what’s wrong? This isn’t like you. This whole party, the way you’re acting. What happened after the holidays?” She whimpered, shaking her head.

“I dun’ wanna talk about it r-right now…” He nodded, conceding that forcing her to spill the beans right this minute was less likely to resemble anything productive. He held the bottle of water out to her again. With a weak, halfhearted smile, she gently accepted it and twisted the cap loose, taking a small sip.

“Okay, that’s fine, just… we are going to discuss it. All of it, so Mabel and I can help you get yourself on your feet and operating like the Pacifica we made friends with.” She sniffled, smile growing a little wider as she nodded. “However, there is another question I have, if you can answer it.” She looked him in the eyes, finally, and gulped down another mouthful of water. “When I came back to the couch with the water, things seemed a little… tense, between you and my sister.”

“I just, yanno, I was bein’ diff’cult,” she quickly lied, eyes downcast. Dipper grunted and shook his head.

“No, I’ve seen that specific look on her face before. She looked like she’d been kissed and didn’t know how to respond…” Pacifica’s eyes went wide with panic. He just nodded. “I thought that might be the case… I’ll come back to that, though. How did you know where to send that invitation?”

“My family has… connections with a couple of private investigators that owe us favors. I called one in, he found you two for me. I jus’ wanted to surprise you is all…” Dipper adjusted his position, legs crossing in front of himself to form a pretzel shape, listening intently. “S-sorry if I spooked you with that. Ugh, I’m a bad friend, I don’t talk to you for half a year and then I hire somebody to snoop on you both.”

“Well… people fall out of touch, it happens. That’s just life, Pacifica. Although the hiring a guy to snoop seems pretty underhanded compared to a text message,” he said with a small laugh. She felt her lips curl into a tiny, not fully there grin. “So, when you addressed the invitation, you addressed it like you were sending it to a married couple…?”

“Oh, uh, I had a printing company do those up. They usually do stuff like wedding invites and they must have seen you and Mabel have th’same last name’n’address, and made an assumption…” she explained, and he heaved a sigh of relief. Even in her addled state, she noticed a bit more to the sigh, and how his posture suddenly relaxed, than most people would have. “Whyyy would that be a cause for concern?”

“N-no reason!” he stammered, shaking his head. “Just didn’t want the mailman getting the wrong ideas about me and Mabel. Who is, you know, my sister. Yeah.” She narrowed her eyes at him, but Mabel’s voice in the doorway snapped up her attention before she could formulate another question.

“Darn straight I am. Alpha twin has returned with a stack fresh clothing for m’lady,” she proclaimed, setting a stack of pajamas down on the counter. “But first we gotta get you cleaned up. Dipper, can you get a washrag and wet it down with cold water?” He just nodded, standing on his feet swiftly to try and avoid Pacifica’s stare. He could see gears turning in her head; even with saying next to nothing he had apparently said too much.

While he soaked a rag under the faucet, he could hear Pacifica and Mabel mumbling to one another; mostly apologies on the blonde’s part, and reassurances on his sister’s. He twisted the faucet off and walked over, handing Mabel the washrag. “Here. I’ll, uh… I’ll get the bathtub filled up while you do that. How hot do you like the water, Pacifica?”

“Jus’ under steaming,” she mumbled while Mabel dabbed the wet washcloth all over their friend’s face. Dipper nodded and began adjusting the water temperature. Once he was certain it was at the optimum level of heat, he set the stopper. The sound of water hitting porcelain echoed throughout the large room.

“So, I guess you’ve got the handle on this, right sis? Shouldn’t need me to help you get her in the tub or anything.” Mabel snapped her fingers at him as he turned to leave. His shoulders slumped.

“It’s gonna be easier with both of us in here to get her settled in there without disaster happening. She could barely walk into this room with both of us,” Mabel explained as she tugged Pacifica out of her shoes. “Besides, we’re all adults. We’ve all seen naked people by now, what makes this any different?”

“I dunno, it just seems awkward seeing one of our best friends in the buff when she’s…” he started to say, but he stumbled across his next choice of words for a moment. “Not feeling so hot?” Mabel just rolled her eyes as she tugged the buttons on the blonde’s top open.

“Geeze Dip, who friggin’ cares,” she said flatly. Pacifica just grumbled as the female Pines twin peeled the overshirt off of one arm, and then the next. Mabel tossed it into a nearby laundry hamper, then turned and motioned for Pacifica to lift her arms. With a groan she obliged, and Mabel hooked her fingers into the hem of the thin-strapped top the blonde still wore and lifted, stripping it off of her to unveil a strapless, lacy pink bra. Dipper felt his ears turn red when he noted, internally, it looked exactly like one Mabel wore a few days beforehand.

Mabel circled back around behind the girl seated on the commode and undid the hooks holding the bra on, and it seemed to fall away without any sort of ceremony or grace. Just, flop, into her lap. She tinged pink along her cheeks and Dipper was positive he was a burning red color.

“Paz, honey, I’m gonna need you to stand up for me to get you out of the skirt,” Mabel requested. Pacifica just nodded and held her arms out in front of her, wordlessly asking for help. Dipper took each hand and gently pulled, lifting her to her feet. In her wobbly stupor, she stumbled and flattened against his chest. He swore if you tapped a match to his face it would ignite. “Perfect, hold her there bro-bro.”

“N-not much of a choice, I suppose,” he mumbled, glancing down at the half-nude girl hugging loosely around his torso. She looked back up, eyes red and puffy and smiled weakly. He opened his mouth to say something, but she planted a quick, noisy smooch on the corner of his lips.

“Yer sucha gen’leman,” she muttered, nosing into his neck. He swallowed hard, mouth closed tight, lips drawn into a tight line. He noticed Mabel staring up at him, her brows furrowed worriedly. He shook his head and used a lone finger to tap the corner of his mouth, where her faint lipstick remained. Mabel’s look went from minor disapproval to concern as she unfastened the zipper on the back of the skirt and tugged it down. It was her turn to blush now, apparently.

“O-okay, she’s ready for the tub! C’mon girly,” Mabel said, unraveling the girl from around Dipper as they both led her to the bathtub. She shakily stepped in and sat down, the water coming halfway up her midsection. Dipper swiftly turned the water off and nodded to his sister.

“Well, I uh, I think I’m gonna go try to clean up some of the disaster the other attendees left behind, after I get rid of these,” he noted, stepping over to the toilet and upending the baggies into the bowl. After each one was empty, he pressed down on the handle, and the offending drugs were long gone. Without another word he stepped out and began the task of cleaning the house up.

After rooting around in the kitchen, he found a box of trash bags. He pulled several out and looped a majority of them around his shoulders, fanning one open before he started grabbing discarded beer bottles. Luckily the kitchen had garnered little attention from the party-goers, so he moved from it into the room he and Mabel first walked through. Oh man, this place was a disaster. With a heavy sigh, and a shake of his head, he grabbed the first bottle and started cleaning up.

———

———

“Hey Dipstick, I got her cleaned up and dried off, she’s gettin’ dressed and-wow.” Mabel stopped mid sentence and stared around the living room; there was hardly any sign that people had been in here causing a ruckus. Two big black trash bags sat near the doorway, and Dipper was dropping the last red plastic cup into the bag in his hands, tightening the drawstrings and tying them off. “Sheesh, who are you and what have you done with my brother?”

“What is _that_ supposed to mean, missy?” he retorted, poking his tongue out to blow a raspberry her way. She sniffed, tilting her head back with disdain.

“All I know is the man I live with doesn’t clean anything up this well. You’re clearly an impostor,” she remarked, punctuating the statement with a so-there nod. He just sighed heavily in response and shrugged helplessly.

“Yeah, I’m sorry I leave a mess in my wake at home, but that’s our space. I don’t feel as guilty if it seems like we live there. This is somebody else’s home and it was damn near ruined with garbage. I wasn’t gonna let Paz clean this up herself…” He sat the trash bag down with the other two, then pulled a footstool over and sat down with a huff. “It just wouldn’t feel right. We’re trying to help her get out of this pit she seems to have dug for herself. I was hoping cleaning up would be a good first step.”

Mabel frowned thoughtfully, stepping up and hugging his head to her abdomen. She ran her fingers through his messy brown curls with a sigh. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset ya or anything. It was just a bit of a shock, seeing you cleaning so dutifully. I getcha, though. We don’t wanna leave her with a disaster to clean up herself.” He nodded against her sweater. Mabel tilted his head up and smiled at him, and he returned the look with a small sigh.

“I love you, Mabel Pines.”

“I love you t-”

“Maaabelll, I’m dressed, what do I do n-oh here you are,” a slightly less tipsy, less stumbly Pacifica said as she wobbled into the room, still somewhat unsteady. Now she just looked half dead with exhaustion. Mabel quickly stepped back from Dipper, a nervous frown on her face. “Whatcha doin’ in here? Are you two b… being weird again?”

“Wh-what?” Dipper stuttered. “What do you mean by that?”

“Yer always just… in the same place, all the time. ‘s like you’re an old married couple,” she said dismissively. He and Mabel both relaxed, each one giving the other a ‘that was too close’ look. “But anyways, wha’ do I gotta do now?”

“We’re getting you into bed, young lady,” Mabel said sternly. Pacifica pouted, but just nodded and made grabby-hands at her. Mabel rolled her eyes and wrapped one of Pacifica’s arms around her shoulders. Dipper stood up and followed along, letting Mabel hold their friend up. She was sobering up, so clearly she didn’t need both of them to hold her steady. Halfway down the hall, though, Pacifica stopped moving and waved at Dipper.

“H-hey, you, walk with us, yer helpin’ right?” she demanded. He didn’t even bother to argue, stepping up and letting her grab around his shoulders. “Tha’s better,” she said with a pleased chuckle. Mabel shot him a hopeful, sad smile.

When they got to her bedroom, they tugged the covers of her bed down and helped her settle in. While Mabel pulled the covers back up over her, Dipper looked around the room for a bit.

“Okay, Pacifica, I’m going to ask once and if I find out you lied, you’re going to get chewed out; was that all the drugs you had?” She pouted up at him, but he maintained a stern, accusing glare. She finally nodded, and he could see by the look on her face she was being honest. “Okay, good. You rest up, Mabel and I are going to stay here in the beach house tonight to help you in the morning okay? If you need anything overnight just yell for one of us.”

“Yes _dad_ ,” she sleepily giggled. He rolled his eyes and gave her a pat on the head. When he turned to step away, she got a hand around his wrist. “H-hey… g’night kiss?”

Dipper cast a glance over at his sister, who just shrugged. With a defeated sigh he leaned down and gave her a quick, innocent peck on the lips. She giggled happily and then pointed at Mabel.

“You too,” she added, turning the pointing finger to poke at her own lips. Mabel sighed and leaned down to plant a chaste smooch on the girl’s lips. Pacifica, clearly satisfied with herself now, just nodded with a yawn. “G’night. Thank you for not hatin’ me… love you guys.”

They just stared at one another for a couple of beats, but before either of them could say anything else, Pacifica was snoring up a storm. They stepped out of the room, door open, and set off to find another bedroom.

“She spill any details on why she started acting like this to you?” Dipper asked. Mabel shook her head.

“All she kept saying while I was helping her clean up was that she was sorry for being such an awful friend and that she hoped we don’t hate her now. I kept telling her we can’t hate her, we’re just concerned…”

Dipper nodded as they found a guest room, each of them stripping down to their underthings before setting down on either side of the bed. With a yawn, followed by a sigh, he tilted over to plant a quick kiss on his sister’s lips. “Goodnight, love you.”

“Love you too.”

Neither of them slept easy.

-End Part 1-


	2. Chapter 2

Pacifica sat up and clamped a hand over her mouth. Throwing off her covers, she staggered out of the bed and into the adjoining bathroom, flinging open the toilet lid and shoving her face over the bowl as she retched. Her arms braced around the upper rim of the toilet, her stomach twisting into knots as her body forcibly evicted the booze from the night before.

Her entire body shook after each heave, the air forced from her lungs moments before making a horrible sound. She could feel thick tears running down her face, and in between each contraction of her stomach muscles she would gasp for as much air as she could muster. She whimpered, grabbing a wad of toilet paper and rubbing it over her lips.

After what seemed to be ages, but was likely only a few minutes, she seemed to be empty. Her vision was blurry with tears, and her head throbbed harder than she could ever remember. A gentle knock at the doorway of the bathroom was all that made her lift her head from the toilet bowl.

“Wh…what, who?” she began, then cleared her throat to clear the scratchiness her voice held. “Who’s there?”

“It’s me, Paz. You okay?” Oh, it was Mabel. “I heard you spewing from all the way out in the kitchen, and you look like you might start prayin’ to the porcelain goddess again any minute now.” Pacifica shook her head with a groan.

“I don’t know, I feel emptied out but that never stopped me from dry heaving before,” she moaned, reaching up and tugging on the handle of the toilet, causing the vile mess inside of it to swirl into oblivion. At least that horrid sight wasn’t there in front of her now. “And my head feels like one of those bull-men from back at home is thumping on it from inside.”

Mabel quietly chuckled to herself. “Well, I left a bottle of water on your bedstand, and Dip-Dop is cooking breakfast if you feel up to solid food. You need me to help you with anything?”

“Can you just put me out of my misery?” Pacifica wondered aloud. The brunette girl in the doorway sighed.

“No, that’s illegal and my last name isn’t Kevorkian so don’t ask again. Besides, if you feel good enough to be snippy, you’ll be fine. Come find the bro-bro and me in the kitchen when you’re ready,” Mabel instructed, stepping into the bathroom to lean down and plant a friendly kiss on the top of Pacifica’s head before walking off.

She felt heat rising in her cheeks; sure, she knew the kiss didn’t mean anything. Mabel had made that notion clear last night when-

“Oh god I’ve fucked it all up,” Pacifica whined, curling into a ball on the floor to cry for a moment. She only allowed herself to feel that kind of self pity for so long, however, before reminding herself that she was above that. She could maintain some sense of dignity, dammit all. She might not like the thought of it but she was, after all, a Northwest, and she was raised to be better than this.

Standing up, she marched herself over to the sink and washed the residue from her tears away, splashing cold water on her face to help alleviate the headache. Next she sat down and silently combed through her hair, staring at herself in the mirror the whole while. Her skin was pale, her eyes bloodshot, and she seemed a little gaunt. Hopefully as the day went by these would all rectify themselves.

Pleased as she could be with her grooming, she walked back into the bedroom to find the promised bottle of water, as well as a hand scrawled note from Mabel and a pair of painkillers next to it.

**_Hope that some ibuprofens help your throbbing head. -Lady Mabelthorpe_ **

Pacifica smiled, despite her sour mood. Mabel’s silly names for herself always made her chuckle. With a swig of the water she gulped down the pills, feeling the liquid coat the inside of her stomach all the way down, which caused it to grumble in hunger. She frowned, unsure if she could stand to choke anything down to fill her insistent insides, but the smell of pancakes floating down the hallway forced her to change her mind.

Bare feet slapped against wood as she plodded her way down the hall, leaning on the wall for support every few steps. She could just hear hushed voices, and when she rounded the corner and into the room the twins went quiet. Dipper was standing at the stove tending to a skillet, Mabel sitting on the countertop a couple of feet away. Both of them swiveled to watch her enter.

“Morning, Paz,” Dipper mumbled noncommittally. She frowned at him, eyebrows furrowing with more than a smidgen of attitude. When he looked up at her, her arms crossed, glaring at him, he took a step back. “What’d I do?”

“Oh come on, we all know you want to yell at me for being a stupid drunk bimbo last night,” she snapped. “About how I should know better than to act this way, how I’m messing with a wrong crowd, you know, all of that after-school-special bullshit.”

“Pacifica, I’m concerned for you but I’m not going to yell! I’d rather we all sit and talk like adults. Over breakfast.” He motioned to the platter of pancakes, and another of bacon. Had they gone shopping while she was still asleep? All she had stocked in the fridge was booze, water, and jello shots. Okay, so those were actually just more booze in a different form. “Can we at least all sit and eat breakfast? I’d like to see you put some food in your stomach after that commotion I heard down the hall, half an hour ago.”

“Paz, please. We wanna help,” Mabel noted, frowning sincerely. Pacifica looked from one twin to the next, and hugged her arms around her own torso, giving a small nod.

“Okay. The pancakes do smell amazing,” she mumbled, shuffling over to sit at the table. Dipper just gave her a sad, thankful smile and flipped a pancake in the skillet, while his sister hopped off the counter and pulled a few jars of jam and a bottle of syrup out of a shopping bag. _That answers that question, Pacifica…_

“Whatcha prefer Paz? We got milk, OJ, tea, coffee,” Mabel said, listing drinks off on her fingers, “I have a thermos full of Mabel juice…”

“NO!” Mabel jumped, as both Dipper and Pacifica made the exclamation at the same time. She held up her hands defensively.

“Okay, sheesh, no Mabel Juice, yikes!”

Dipper looked over at Pacifica, who grinned sheepishly at him. He returned the grin and nodded, using the spatula to flip the final pancake onto the stack. He grabbed up the platter that held them, as well as a plate loaded up with bacon and walked cautiously over to the table. He set the pancakes smack dab in the middle of the table, the bacon off to the side of them. Mabel set out plates, silverware and drinking glasses.

“Oh, um, I suppose I never answered you earlier. I’ll just have tea, this morning,” Pacifica mumbled as Mabel set a glass in front of her. Mabel merely nodded and started the kettle. Dipper sat down across from Pacifica, and loaded a few pancakes onto his plate. She decided to mirror his actions, grabbing a couple for herself. Once the kettle shrieked and Mabel had the water poured for Pacifica’s tea, and then Dipper’s coffee, they all sat down and started to eat.

She wouldn’t admit it, not yet anyhow, but Dipper was actually a pretty good cook. The pancakes were fluffy and warm, and the bacon was done enough that while it wasn’t burnt and shattering, it wasn’t chewy and half-raw. Every so often, Dipper or Mabel would make a small sound to one another, and the other would pass the syrup or butter. They seemed to communicate without even speaking, and Pacifica took a moment to wonder if they had always been able to do that. At times she wished she hadn’t been an only child, so she would better know what it was like to have siblings. Cousins would even be nice, but both of her parents were only children as well.

Only when the last pancake was swiped onto Mabel’s plate did Pacifica realize they had eaten the meal in relative silence. She pushed the last bite of pancake on her plate around a puddle of strawberry jam, chewing on her lower lip. Any minute now, one of the twins would be speaking up. They’d poke and prod for information. Dig at her until she spilled.

“Okay fine, I’ll talk!” she half-shouted. Dipper and Mabel both jumped in their seats, giving her startled looks. She cleared her throat. “I, uh… sorry. I’m just not sure how to… oh god where do I even start with this sort of thing?”

“You start when you’re ready, and it would probably help if you started back around the time you stopped talking to the both of us,” Dipper suggested. “I feel like that’s when this started.”

She nodded, and took a deep breath to clear her thoughts.

“Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I was doing some digging for a genealogy test for school applications…”

———

———

Getting into the ivy league school her parents had their eyes on was proving to be difficult. She wasn’t even sure she wanted to attend school there, but her parents insisted that a Northwest never settled for anything but the absolute best. Plus, if she got accepted, it would finally shut them up.

The problem with this plan was that as part of the application process, the school insisted that to enter it’s “prestigious academic halls”, one had to prove they were of high caliber pedigree. As such, she had begun digging through family records.

“Here we are, Pacifica Elise Northwest, daughter of Preston and Priscilla Northwest, born of… wait, _what_?!” Staring at her from the page was a name she didn’t recognize, a “Jennifer Smith”. Nothing in here said she was adopted, what was going on? There was even a genealogy report clipped to the page, proving that she was without a doubt her parent’s flesh and blood. She stomped off into another room, the file under her arm.

“Ah, Pacifica, darling, I’m glad you could join your mother and I. We were just discussing plans to build a new Northwest Manor on the other side of town with the mayor, so we won’t have to be near that hillbilly and see what he’s done to our old residence.” Preston adjusted the cuffs of his shirt as he spoke, not even looking over at his daughter. Her mother sat next to a small table, a sterling silver tea set perched on it daintily, while Mayor Cutebiker sat on the other side.

“Heya Pacifica!” he said with a friendly wave. She nodded politely to him before turning to her father.

“Father, would you and mother mind telling me who Jennifer Smith is?”

Her mother, in the middle of sipping at her cup of tea, spat the drink back into the tiny porcelain cup. Her father’s face shifted from his usual, patient disinterest to one of stern disapproval. With a deep breath, he regained his composure and turned to the mayor.

“I’m very sorry Tyler but it looks like we’ll have to reschedule this meeting for tomorrow. Apparently our daughter has been snooping around in things she shouldn’t be.” Tyler simply looked from Preston to Pacifica, then back again, and nodded with a polite shrug.

“Oh, uh, okay then. I’ll see y’all tomorrow I s’pose?” The lone family servant they had employed after losing the manor saw the mayor out without a single spoken word. Preston wheeled about to shake a finger at his daughter indignantly the second they were all three alone in the room.

“What is the meaning of this young lady? Your mother and I did not raise you to go snooping around in our personal history!” Pacifica scoffed.

“It’s _my_ personal history, too. I have to have a genealogy report, or test or something to get into this school and since neither of you were interested in helping me with that I was looking into it. Why does this say I was born to Jennifer Smith instead of mom?” Priscilla remained tightlipped, off to the side while her daughter and husband argued. After another minute or so of back and forth squabbling, she cleared her throat to get their attention.

“Stop arguing, Preston. It’s clear she’s not going to drop this subject.” Pacifica turned to face her mother, eyebrows raised expectantly. “You see, dear, when your father and I decided it was time we have a child to continue the family legacy, we agreed that having a child physically, for me, was something neither of us were interested in. It would cause me so many issues such as morning sickness and weight gain, not to mention the unsightly stretch marks it could have put on me.”

“What do you mean?” Pacifica demanded quietly.

“Isn’t it obvious? Your father and I hired the girl to carry our combined genetic material-that is, you-to term and birth you herself.” She gawked at her mother.

“You paid a surrogate to give birth to me so I wouldn’t _ruin your figure?!_ ” she seethed. Priscilla sipped at her tea with a raised eyebrow. She silently set the cup back on its saucer in her lap.

“Didn’t I just say that?”

“But I saw pictures of you, pregnant with me!”

“Oh, Pacifica, darling, I wore a fake belly to fake the first few weeks you would have shown and then stayed in the mansion for the next few months, feigning morning sickness and the like to avoid drawing the attention to the fact that I was in fact not pregnant.” She stared blankly at Pacifica, not a hint of emotion on her face. “Honestly, dear, all of the high society women that have children do it this way, heaven forbid they let something as trivial as having an heir wreak havoc on their bodies.”

Pacifica wheeled about and stomped out of the room heavily. Preston shouted something at her about walking with grace instead of like the common folk, and Pacifica responded by slapping a vase off of a pedestal, causing it to shatter against the floor.

———

———

“So, wait… your parents paid somebody else to have you so your mom wouldn’t have to deal with basic preggo stuff?” Mabel said, dumbfounded. Pacifica nodded, gripping at the mug of tea in front of herself tightly.

“Yes. And, quite frankly, I feel like that was just the start of it. They made it quite clear I was nothing but a planned point in their ‘grand legacy’ as the Northwests,” she replied quietly. Dipper was silent, but his face said everything; he was upset for Pacifica, but he was also furious with her parents. She wasn’t surprised; he had openly voiced his dislike of them ever since the incident with the ghost back in the Summer of 2012. But she was certain he had never looked so quietly furious.

“What else happened?” His voice was steady, and the words slow. She could tell he wanted to scream.

———

———

“What do you _mean_ you have a suitor for me to meet? This is not the middle ages, father. You can’t just promise my hand to somebody I’ve never met before!”  
  
“Now now, Pacifica, the Framptershire’s are a very powerful family. The young man is bound to become a senator under his father’s tutelage and if our families combined we could become a very powerful force in this country!” Preston went on to explain. Pacifica snarled.

“I am NOT property to be traded in exchange for you to have more money or political clout, father! I am a person and-” she began, but he cut her off with a ring of a bell. She bit her tongue, hand clenching into a fist.

“Pacifica, dear, you have been raised as a member of the elites in this world and you are going to act like one! We lost the Fundhauser boy back to that ogre of a girl years ago during the ghost fiasco. The Framptershire’s son will be a fine match for you.”

“I’ve never even met him,” she growled through clenched teeth. Her father raised his hand to ring the bell again, but she snatched it away, threw it on the floor and brought her foot down over it, crushing it easily. Her father glared at her.

“Were I a lesser man of lower blood I would have half a mind to strike you for that, young lady. You will do as you are told and-”

“I am an _ADULT_ , father. You will not talk down to me as though I am a simpering child here to do your every whim and bidding for you! And just so you know, I never liked the idea of marrying Marius either. He and Grenda are a fine couple, they love each other.”

“And what, pray tell, does love have to do with anything?!” Pacifica gawked at her father’s response.

“Don’t you love mother?” Preston snorted and turned his back to his daughter.

“I eventually came to admire her, yes, but first and foremost I courted and married her because not only was she a daughter of a powerful family, but she was lovely enough to win the Ms. Mudflap competition at the factory ball that year! She was a woman of high pedigree,” he explained, and Pacifica felt her stomach twisting into knots as he went on. “I would have hoped that our genetics would create a more malleable offspring, then we wouldn’t be having these… problems.”

“I hate you.” Preston perked a brow, looking over his shoulder at her. “I hate _both_ of you!” She stormed out without another word.

“Yes, do try to not lose sleep over it!” he shouted back at her.

———

———

Mabel sat slack-jawed, blinking. Dipper’s hands were flat on the tabletop, and every couple of seconds he would drum the fingers of his right hand in an annoyed cadence.

“They tried to marry you off?!” Mabel demanded. Pacifica merely nodded, staring into her mug. Mabel shuddered, groaning. “Oh my gosh, am I allowed to hate your parents too?”

“Go ahead, I don’t really consider them family anymore as it is,” she replied, moving to wipe a lone tear from her eye. “You guys have been more family to me in the last six years than they ever were in all eighteen of them I’ve been alive.”

———

———

“Pacifica, I will not hear another word of this! This attitude is not becoming of a Northwest,” her father shouted. He was waving a finger at her from several paces away. She stood with her luggage packed, at the doorway of their house.

“Dad, I’m just going to a different school is all! It’s not like I’m blowing the family fortune on ridiculous notions.” He waved his hand to silence her.

“A state college is not an acceptable venue of learning for a member of this family! It holds no prestige or class, it-”

“I’ll actually _learn_ something there instead of coasting by because I’m rich!” she shouted. “I’ll have to actually know what it’s like to work for a grade, and make something of myself instead of being some little robotic automaton for you and mother to boss around and marry off to some stranger just so you can have a chance at more money! I’m not discussing this, dad. I’ve already got a bus ticket, I’m leaving. School starts in a week.”

“You step one foot out that door and you are being cut off! You’ll not have our money, access to any of our services, or vacation homes!” She shrugged with a roll of her eyes.

“I can live with that, you know. Being friends with the Pines twins and their family has made me realize that-”

“I knew it, this is the fault of those blasted ingrates! I’ve never liked those two. The boy is rowdy and carries himself like a buffoon, and his sister, quite frankly, behaves as though she belongs in an asylum. I regret the day I ever let you associate with them.” Pacifica fumed, walking up to her father and slapping him across the face.

“The Pines are a better family than I’ve ever had living with you or mother and I will NOT hear you insult them in that manner! You want to cut me off, FINE. I have resources of my own, I can manage. Goodbye, Preston.”

Without another spoken word between them, she gathered her bags and walked out the door.

———

———

The first two weeks of the semester were fine. She majored in business, and had an elective in drama classes, as well as one in law studies. She had found a fellow classmate to room with, another freshman, and they got along relatively well, except for the parties.

One way or another, if there was a large party on campus, it seemed to follow her roommate home. Beer, pot, whatever it was, it seemed to end up in their apartment, and it was beginning to drive Pacifica nuts. The noise, the stream of stupid frat boys, it was unbearable.

Until, that is, she went with her roomie one night. And she had a good time! She only got a little buzzed, met some other people. The next time there was a party, she tagged along excitedly. After awhile, she found herself getting wasted at these parties. A little nagging voice in the back of her head would inform her that this was not how a proper Northwest behaved, but her inner thoughts would shout back that fuck it, she didn’t _want_ to be a proper Northwest. The Northwest family legacy was one of deceit and lies, no love, no concern for your children unless they were somehow furthering your own goals. She would not be a Northwest.

When getting drunk didn’t seem to cut it anymore, she started seeking other ways to take the edge off. First she tried pot, and while it was okay, it didn’t strike her fancy, that feeling. She needed something harder. So she started asking around, and eventually she got her hands on some Ecstasy. The first few times she tried that, it was amazing. But unfortunately, it seemed like the high never lasted, was never enough to remind her that she could feel good as a person. Shit, just feel good in general.

Somebody else suggested to her that she try “candyflipping” and mix it up, by adding LSD to her high a little while after taking the E. She saw no reason not to try it, and after doing it once she found it very difficult to do any partying without the combination.

It was a few weeks ago that she remembered what her father had said about the twins and their family. That they had been a “bad influence” on her and she found the very thought hysterical. The twins would have never let her go down this road! If they knew she was getting high and drunk they’d probably flip out just as bad as her parents. But, she was doing this all as a big “fuck you” to her folks, wasn’t she? And they hated the Pines. So the ultimate revenge against them would be getting more involved with the Pines family.

 _Very_ involved with the Pines family. But she couldn’t just get the twins to come see her and try to get the ball rolling, not after she had gone silent for so long. She needed an icebreaker, something to set the scene.

A party! And her parents, in their haste to cut her off from everything, had forgotten their seldom used beach house. She still had keys to that! She just needed to figure out how to invite them. She pulled out her cell phone and scrolled through the contacts, tapping one of the names.

“Mister Alderez? Pacifica Northwest, do you still owe my family a favor? Excellent. I need you to find the addresses of some old acquaintances of mine, the Pines twins, Dipper and Mabel. I’d like to send them a surprise invitation. Oh, no no, don’t involve my father. He doesn’t need to know about any of this, yet.

“Once you find the information? Just email it to me, you do have my email address on file yes? Good. I look forward to hearing from you, Mr. Alderez.”

———

———

“Involved?” Mabel canted her head to one side, staring at Pacifica. “What uh, what do you mean, ‘involved’?”

“Oh for fuck sake, Mabel, you know exactly what I mean. I tried to kiss you last night-”

“Yeah but you were, like, drunk and, and high, you weren’t in your normal frame of mind!” Pacifica shrugged.

“I might have gotten to that state to try and work up the nerve to make a pass at one of you,” she mumbled, her cheeks burning crimson. “Or… even maybe both of you…” Dipper was rubbing his forehead, sighing through grit teeth.

“Pacifica, I’m… well, I’m fairly cross with you right now, as I have every right to be,” he noted, and she just nodded. “But did you even stop to consider that Mabel and I might be involved?” Pacifica looked up at him, and he saw a hint of something cross behind her eyes. Like she was remembering things from their conversation about the invitation, the night prior. “You know, with, other people, already?”

“The investigator I called in a favor from told me you were both living together, and didn’t seem to have any other people coming or going at any other time when I inquired about that,” she admitted with a shrug. “I mean, is… Are either of you with other people?”

“No,” Mabel quickly replied.

“Yes,” Dipper said at the same time. They stared at one another for a brief moment. “I mean, uh, no?”

“Oh um, yeah, that’s why-” They both stopped quickly, each talking over the other. Pacifica’s eyebrows furrowed and her lips scrunched in a pout.

“Okay, you two are being _really_ weird. Are you or aren’t you seeing somebody?” The twins were staring again, each one waiting for the other to speak.

“It’s… kind of complicated,” Dipper said, making sure his tone implied he didn’t want to give any more information than that up. Mabel just nodded in agreement.

“Ugh, whatever. I haven’t been able to figure out the way you two act around each other for the last two years,” Pacifica relented. Mabel shrugged.

“They didn’t call us the Mystery Twins for nothin’!” she replied, her cheery tone back.

“Yeah, but… I thought that was because you solved the mysteries, not for being one?” Mabel frowned at the Northwest girl’s revelation.

“Oh, uh…”

“Okay, looks like we ate everything. Let’s say Mabel and I can do the dishes while  you get yourself cleaned up?” Dipper suggested, looking at Pacifica for the latter half of his statement.

“I guess,” she said with an exasperated sigh. She stepped around the table, then paused between the two twins as she went to move past them. She leaned down to give each one of them a hug, sighing heavily. “I’m sorry for… everything, I suppose.”

“It’s fine, really! Go bathe and get dressed, Paz. Mabel and I will be here when you’re done, this place still needs some cleaning.” She nodded to Dipper and started down the hallway, back towards her bedroom.

She fired up the shower, adjusting the shower heads until they were all on the mist setting, and stepping into the humid cloud of vapor they produced. After she felt her hair sticking down against her back, she grabbed a bottle of shampoo and set about lathering her long hair up.

She worked carefully, from root to tip on each small cluster of strands she grabbed. It had been so long since she took proper care of her blonde tresses, and they were a little rough, some split ends forming. _Ugh, I really let myself get pretty low, huh? I never used to let my hair get so ragged._

After roughly ten minutes her hair was all foamed and seen to, and she grabbed one of the hand-held shower heads and pressed the lever down, causing a spray of water to flow. She worked it over her head while she bent down, letting the water massage her scalp as it rinsed every last sud away. Once she was convinced she had her hair thoroughly rinsed out, she repeated the same process with a bottle of conditioner. Once the requisite five minutes of leaving it in was up, she rinsed it out as well.

Her hair seen to, she grabbed a loofah and some of her preferred soap, made with various natural oils and extracts. She worked up a heavy foam in the sponge she held, and set about scrubbing herself down. Despite having bathed (with Mabel’s help) the night before, she felt like her skin still smelled like cigarette smoke, among other unwelcome odors, and now she was determined to remove that top layer of skin to rid herself of the stink.

 _I smell like the filthy sort of lowlife I let myself become, just to get some sort of petty revenge on my parents? What happened to the proud, dignified Pacifica you used to be? Did you let her die when you lost all faith in your family name?_ She scrubbed harder, frowning. _God, you let yourself fall so low, Pacifica. What happened to the girl who kept her demeanor in the face of the apocalypse, when she was forced to dress in rags and still kept her sense of self esteem?_ The furious scrubbing intensified, her jaw clenched tightly.

“Who the fuck am I, anymore?!” she exclaimed aloud, throwing the loofah down before letting herself plop down on the shower floor, knees hugged to her chest. Tears streamed from her eyes, small sobs shaking her shoulders. “A fucking mess, that’s who I am. What did I even do to deserve friends like Dipper and Mabel?”

She mulled it over in her head as she rocked on the tiled floor. The Pines twins had stuck by her side after she had said such awful things to both of them. After she had always went out of her way to put either of them down. Their great uncle, Stanley, had taken her under his wing when her parents were kidnapped by that crazed triangle freak, letting her stay in the Mystery Shack without second thought. The entire family had been more than happy to let bygones be bygones.

“Well, quit feeling sorry for yourself and second guessing everything, Pacifica,” she muttered to herself. “You’re going to go out there, and help them fix this mess you made. Both of the beach house, and yourself.”

———

———

“Ya think she’ll be okay?” Mabel asked in a hushed voice, running a sponge down inside of a glass. Dipper nodded with a hum, wiping down rinsed dishes with a towel and setting them in a drying rack by the sink.

“She’s a lot stronger than she likes to give herself credit for, I think. She was always stubborn and bullheaded when we were younger, I doubt she’s completely changed. If anything this little speed-bump in her life is probably going to make her even stronger.” Mabel nodded at his statement, picking up another drinking glass and starting on it.

“I know, but I’m still gonna worry a lil bit, yanno? Plus, she said stuff about trying to seduce us! You shoulda seen how she wiggled while she had her boobs mashed against you, sheesh…” She plunged the wet sponge back into the suds-topped water and then crammed it down inside the glass with a little too much vigor.

“What, you jealous?” Dipper teased. She huffed and continued to scrub. “That’s a yes. Of who, her?” His sister remained silent. “Of me?” She grumbled a bit. “Mabel, you saw my face, I wasn’t exactly rearin’ to go at her.”

“Fine, neither! Both?! I don’t know, augh!” she let the glass sink into the soapy water and chucked the sponge down after it. Tangling her fingers in her own hair, she gave a tug in frustration. Dipper turned to face his sister.

“Mabel, why would you be jealous? You know that I’m not gonna go jumping between the sheets with anybody else,” he reassured. She groaned and buried her face in her hands, head shaking.

“It’s not that, I just… look, you know that I don’t exactly follow a, uh, straight-and-narrow path right?”

“Yes, Mabel we had this discussion our junior year when you thought about bringing Jackie home to meet the folks,” he noted.

“Well, Pacifica might be the first girl I ever crushed on, okay? I don’t know if it was a rivalry thing or if I thought maybe she was just tsundere for me-”

“Your weeb is showing.” Mabel elbowed him to shut him up.

“-but I really, really liked her. I still kinda harbor a thing for her, like you do with Wendy.” Dipper raised his hands defensively.

“Wh-what?! I don’t still have a crush on Wendy, honest! I got over that years ago!” Mabel narrowed her eyes at him.

“Then throw away those Polaroids she gave you two years ago.” His face went bright red.

“How do you even know about those?! Those are locked in a box, which is locked in my fireproof safe!” She smirked, and he grumbled. “Okay fine, yes, I still have a tiny thing for a particular, flannel clad redhead who may-or may not!-have given me some lewd photos of her in nothing but said flannel shirt and my old pine-tree hat. What of it? Why bring this up? What are you proving?!”

“That you’re still an easily flustered dork,” she giggled. “Sorry, I needed to brighten the mood and your adorable panic face always does a great job of cheering me up.” He gave her a grumpy look, then tugged her close by her wrist. “Eek!”

“You’re lucky I love you,” he said with a dry tone. She snorted with laughter and nodded.

“Yeah yeah, I love you too. Forgive me?” He nuzzled in closer.

“Of course, if you pay the toll of three smooches.” She gasped.

“Such a steep price! You drive a hard bargain sir!” With a chuckle, their lips met. One, two, three times. They were still standing, noses pressed together when the sound of a clearing throat came from the kitchen doorway.

They rapidly untangled their limbs and stood, wide eyed with fear, to find Pacifica, fully dressed in polo shirt and khaki shorts in the entryway. Her arms were crossed over her chest, her brows furrowed in an expression that was part anger, part disgust, and part curiosity. After they all stared one another down for a minute or so, she spoke.

“Just so you know, Dipper, ‘It’s kind of complicated’ looks to be an understatement right about now…”

-End Part 2-


	3. Chapter 3

“Paz I swear it’s not what it looks like!”

Pacifica just glowered at Mabel, then raised a hand to pinch across the bridge of her nose, eyes shut in frustration. With a shake of her head, she walked past, further into the kitchen, grabbing a few trash bags from the pantry and laying the box itself on the counter nearby. Unfurling a trash bag, she looked over at the twins who were still giving her the ‘deer in the headlights’ look.

“Well?! The mess I fucking caused isn’t going to just poof away like magic! Finish the dishes and start cleaning,” she ordered. Both of the twins just nodded.

“Okay but, really, Pacifica, I don’t know what you saw or heard, b-” Dipper began, but she lifted a hand, palm out to make him go quiet.

“I. Don’t. Care right now. I know what I saw but, right this minute, I need to get this place looking decent again. By all legal rights, we’re trespassing, and _I_ can afford a lawyer with what I have in my own savings, but _you_ can’t. Not to beat the people I used to refer to as my parents’ lawyers.” His Adam’s Apple bobbed in his throat. “Look, I can listen to your lies or excuses later. I saw, I heard, I know. Get over it.” And with that, she stomped her way out of the room.

The twins just stared at one another. The rosiness in Mabel’s cheeks was gone, and Dipper looked like he might be the next one in the house to dry heave. Wordlessly, they set back to the dishes, listening to Pacifica violently pitch one glass bottle after another into the bag she had taken along. She would mutter under her breath, and what little bit they picked up were typically words that couldn’t be repeated on daytime television. Things that they typically heard Stan mutter when he thought they were out of earshot, all those years ago.

“We’re fucked, aren’t we?”

Dipper’s head snapped to stare at his sister in disbelief; she _hated_ that word. She’d only use it when she was under an incredible amount of stress. The tone of voice gave away her mood; the urge to curl up into a ball and shrivel away to nothing. He shook his head briefly.

“Look, she’s more worried about getting this place clean again, and she did mention that she doesn’t wanna see us in legal trouble, so, who knows?” He ran a towel around the inside of the final glass, setting it upside down on the rack to finish drying off. “If you think it might help, though, try to talk to her. I’m going to go and start on the front yard. Pretty sure there’s even a keg still out there.”

He planted a soft, caring kiss on her right temple before grabbing a bag and heading for the front of the house. Mabel frowned, pulling the stoppers in the sink to let the water drain before grabbing another bag and looking for the room Pacifica might be in.

She found her in what appeared to be a lounge area, stuffing red cups together as she poured leftover booze in them into a glass liquor bottle on a desk. Mabel set about gathering up paper plates and napkins that were flung about, using some of the clean napkins to pick up half-eaten pizza slices. Five minutes or so ticked by, before Mabel gently coughed to clear her throat.

“So, uh, cat’s out of the bag?” she asked sheepishly. Pacifica hummed in acknowledgement. “I, uh… I really hope you don’t think less of my brother and I for, you know…”

“Mabel, I don’t give a flying fuck right now,” Pacifica said in an annoyed tone. “Please just gather up this garbage.”

“But, Paz, you looked so upset with us! I know we kept it a secret, but, it’s not the kind of thing you yell from the rooftops!” Pacifica responded with a shake of her head and an overly-aggressive toss of a beer bottle into a bag. The sound of glass impacting glass and shattering rang out. “Paz, please, I-”

“Mabel, just, don’t. Do not. I don’t want to deal with it right now. I’m quite certain there is a long, sappy story behind this. I’m not interested. You’ll both get your chance to talk about it later but I cannot deal with it right now.”

“Pacifica, please, you’re our friend! We care about you, we want to help, and we really don’t want you to resent us for having this taboo thing-”

“I said I _don’t fucking CARE!_ ” A small shout of rage punctuated the rise in Pacifica’s volume, followed by her quickly exiting the room, liquor bottle full, towards the kitchen. Mabel stared at the back of her friend’s head, and felt tears forming in the corners of her eyes. With a sniffle, she wiped her eyes against her sleeve and went out into the front yard.

Both to help Dipper, and to feel less alone.

———

———

“She yelled at you like that?”

The brunette girl nodded confirmation at her brother, who growled.

“Once I get this mess out here straightened up I’m going to fucking lay into her…”

“Dipper, don’t! I kept pushing at her and pushing at her, and she kept telling me not to but I did and oh god I screwed it up,” Mabel moaned, pulling on her hair again. Dipper’s fists clenched and unclenched at his sides. His lower jaw quivered, and only when he felt his sister lay a hand on his shoulder did he relax. With a deep breath, he shook his head.

“I guess tempers are hot, right now. We all need to cool off some. We’re the second set of people that she just found out have been lying to her for years, I doubt she’s going to be very happy with us.” He stacked the trash bag in his hands on top of an ever growing pile by the recycling tubs. “Let’s just help her clean up like she asked.”

———

———

Once a majority of the garbage and clutter was gone, it became clear that the party left a whole other layer of mess to deal with; spilled drinks, food stains, and ashes sprinkled about from where people had smoked carelessly. Mabel, now avoiding Pacifica, was busying herself scrubbing surfaces in the lounge. Dipper was mopping the living room while Pacifica swept ahead of him.

They moved in complete silence, but he could see she was fuming. She refused to make eye contact, and if he asked or said anything, she would merely nod or shake her head. He was starting to feel his patience wear thin.

“I’m… we’re sorry, okay?”

“You have nothing to apologize for,” she mumbled. He couldn’t help but blink at her. Six words, now, instead of grunts or head wobbles. That was an improvement. He sighed.

“No, really, we do. We kept a secret from one of our best friends,” he lamented, scrubbing at a particularly sticky glob of… whatever that was. He didn’t want to know at this point, he just wanted it gone.

“No, you don’t. Just drop it. The secret thing isn’t a big deal.” He knit his brows at her in utter and hopeless confusion.

“Then why are you so angry at us?”

She growled in frustration and pitched her broom down.

“I’m not mad at you! Either of you! Not for the whole weird incest thing, at least. But you both keep fucking pushing it, and pushing it! Now that I know it’s all you want to talk about when for the last, who knows how long, you never did?! Why is it so important to talk about it _now_ when we have other matters to take care of first?!” Her chest heaved with heavy breaths. Out of the corner of his eye, Dipper could see Mabel peeking around the corner, listening. He opened his mouth; Pacifica glared.

“Okay, I’ll drop it! Then why are you so angry now?!”

“I don’t want to talk about it!” She snatched up the broom and began to sweep aggressively, spreading dust and debris more than piling it up.

“Why not?!”

“Because I almost fucked up _YOUR_ relationship, dumbass! I had every intent of pushing myself on either one of you last night, as some sort of backwards revenge scheme against the people who contributed to my birth. If I had pushed harder, had gotten one of you to sleep with me?! I would have ruined _another_ relationship, and two of my closest friendships in the fucking process!” Tears ran down her face as she shouted, arms gesticulating wildly. “I’ve lost one family already…” She collapsed to her knees and buried her face in her hands, sobbing. “I can’t lose another.”

There was the sound of a mop handle clattering to the floor, and the next thing Pacifica felt was two pair of arms wrapping around her from either side. The sensation of a very feminine chest pressing into her shoulders told her Mabel was behind her, so obviously Dipper was squeezing from the front. None of them said anything, the two siblings content to hold onto her until she felt better.

“N-now, for the love of, I dunno, whatever,” she muttered, rubbing her eyes against Dipper’s shirt. “Can we just finish cleaning up this mess?” When the twins unraveled themselves from around her, they both helped to her feet. Mabel grabbed her in another crushing hug from behind, then scampered off across the house.

“Sorry for pushing so much, but, yeah. Clean first, then talk?” Pacifica nodded at him. “Cool.”

———

———

By the time they finished cleaning, the sun was sinking under the horizon, over the ocean. The three of them sat on the back patio, feet hanging over the edge. Mabel was barefoot, digging her toes into the sand and giggling. Dipper had grabbed a few hard ciders from the fridge and brought them out, handing one to Pacifica. She accepted it gingerly, staring at the bottle with a frown.

“I don’t think one of those is going to send you back into a downward spiral, Pacifica,” he said, cracking open a bottle, which he then passed over to Mabel. She gasped with delight, snatching it away from him eagerly. Pacifica merely shook her head, setting it next to herself. “Hey, seriously, these things have barely any alcohol in them to begin with, and we just busted ass to clean this house. You deserve a little reward.”

“I still don’t feel like I deserve a reward for anything,” she noted. “Besides, you, drinking underage? Mabel I can understand, she was always a bit of a delinquent-”  
  


“Hey!”

“Well it’s true!” Pacifica cleared her throat. “But you, Dipper? Mister ‘Straight and Narrow, rules are there for a reason’ Pines?” He rolled his eyes.

“Wendy and her friends were bad influences, what can I say,” he joked, popping the top of his own bottle and taking a small sip. “Not to mention some of the stuff we got into with our great Uncles.”

She merely nodded at that. Their “Grunkle” Stan, as they referred to him, wasn’t exactly the most law abiding citizen of Gravity Falls. Even after the town had declared him a hero back in the Summer of 2012, he found it hard to break old habits. On more than one occasion, Pacifica had heard stories of “Pug Smuggling” going wrong. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that he’d let the twins drink before they were old enough, let alone something more illegal.

“So, do either of them know?”

“Know wh-oh. That.” Dipper took a long drink off of his bottle. “No, or if they do they haven’t said a damn thing. The only person that Mabes and I are out to, as far as we know, is you.” She nodded at that, and his eyes searched her face for something. “Does it really not bother you that my sister and I are a couple?”

“Please, you two are weird. You’ve _always_ been weird. You barely spent time apart in Gravity Falls, and from what I can tell you’ve always been really close.” She shrugged, a small smile curling the corner of her mouth up. “Somehow it seems to make sense, for you two.”

“I… wow, that’s actually very mature from somebody that seems to think she was a hopeless case last night,” Dipper replied. “Wow, uh, I worded that horribly.”

“Yes, you did,” she teased, cracking her bottle open finally. “Now then, this is as weird and illegal as I can expect you two to get, right? I mean, you haven’t committed any murders?”

“What, no!”

“Well, maaaybe.” Pacifica and Dipper both turned to stare at Mabel. She just shrugged. “I’m not entirely sure what some of the things we came across and confronted up in Gravity Falls would count as! Is it murder if they’re sentient but not human?!”

“It wasn’t any of the gnomes, was it?” Dipper asked. She shook her head quickly.

“Oh man, no. The last time those little creeps came around trying to propose to me, I kicked Jeff so hard he sounded like he was breathing helium for the last week. They never bothered me since.”

“Moving along,” Pacifica intervened. The twins had a habit of going off topic in cases like this, and she had some questions for them. “How long has this,” she asked, pointing at the twins’ intertwined fingers, “been a thing?”

“‘Bout two and a half years?” Mabel replied with a shrug. The blonde’s eyebrows perked.

“You’ve been sneaking around together, like that, for that long, and until this morning you were never caught?” She whistled, impressed. “You two are good at secrets.”

“Are you sure you’re not mad at us for not telling you about this?” Dipper inquired. She shrugged.

“Temporarily, for maybe five minutes this morning I was? Then the longer I thought about it, the more it seemed like exactly the sort of thing that needs to be kept secret. In your case it could tear a family apart,” she said. “The secrets my parents kept? Those just seem backhanded and deceitful. You two were protecting people you actually love.”

“I… thank you, for being so understanding,” he relented. Pacifica just nodded.

“So, how exactly did all of this start?”

“Well, ages ago in a land far away, our ancestors crawled out of the muck-” Mabel started with a joking tone, but Dipper nudged her in the side.

“So about three years ago, I had been having dating trouble…” he began.

———

———

The door slammed. Mabel looked up from the page in her scrapbook to see her brother tromp in, muttering curses under his breath as he kicked off his shoes in the mud room.

“Stupid Allison and her stupid friends and their stupid opinions,” he groused, stomping into the living room and then up the stairs. Mabel frowned; he didn’t even say hello to her. He always said hi to her when he came back home.

“Dipper?” she called out, but got no response. With a sigh she pushed herself away from the kitchen table, then quietly made her way through the rooms and up the stairs. At the end of the hallway, two bedroom doors faced one another. One was covered in boy band posters, stickers, glitter, and picture strips from photo booths. Obviously her own. Mirroring it across the hallway, a door with a single UFO poster, with “I BELIEVE” along the bottom, marked her brother’s door. She could hear him screaming into his pillow, even through the door. She stood and listened for awhile, then gently knocked before trying the knob. “Are you okay, bro-bro?”

His door swung open, the only light in the room coming from the LED display of his alarm clock and what came in through the now open door. There was a somewhat brotherly shape huddled under the covers of his bed. A whimper came from that shape as she approached and sat on the edge of the bed. She rubbed the vaguely head-sized growth coming off of said shape, pouting as she did.

“Bad date?” The shape nodded. “I’m sorry, Dip. You know it’s not the end of the world, right? We’re just 16, it’s not like we’re gonna find our soul mates right away.” A deep, sobbing sigh came from underneath the blanket. “I’m gonna pull the blanket down, now, ‘kay?”

Hooking her fingers on the upper edge of the comforter, she pulled it down to reveal Dipper, face wet with tears, eyes puffy and bloodshot. He wriggled around to face his sister, but refused to look her in the eye.

“Okay, what’d the bitch do? Do I have to kick her ass later?” Mabel demanded. He snorted, but didn’t laugh. He merely shook his head.

“No, I’m pretty sure my behavior tonight in response to the crap she pulled is plenty payback enough,” he mumbled. His sister tilted her head inquisitively. “So, to get to go on this date with her, she had me do her homework for the last week, right?”

“Say whaaat, Dipper you should know better than that!”

“Look, I already feel like shit for it, but let me explain. So, I did it, kind of. Told her what answers to write down and what made those the right answers, tried to teach her, you know?” Mabel nodded. “Well, tonight rolls around, she wants to go get burgers at a drive through and then head out to the overlook.”

“Makeout point, on the first date?!” He shot her a cross glare. “Sorry, uh… go on?”

“Well, I figure, whatever, what can it hurt, maybe we’ll just sit and talk? So we get up there, we’re chit chatting, and she starts to lean in. Like, really really close. I think she’s actually coming in for a kiss so I close my eyes, lean in, tilt my head, like it says to on the, uh, guides for that stuff…” Mabel narrowed her eyes at him. “Anyhow, just as I think she’s going to kiss me, she apparently takes notice of my birthmark and starts laughing. Realizes where I got the nickname, so she starts texting all of her friends.”

“Uh oh…”

“Yeah, uh oh. So then she’s sitting there laughing, and wants to know if I’ve ever considered ‘having work done’ or learning to do makeup to hide it.”

Mabel winced; her brother was a bit sensitive about his personal birthmark. He left his hair long in the front so he could hide it under his bangs. He was never fond of it, but she always admired it. It made him stand out, it was unique, and besides, it was in the shape of a star cluster important enough to have a proper name!

“So when I say, no, it’s fine just being under my bangs she gives me this disgusted look and demands that if I don’t get rid of it, then there’s no way she’s going on a second date with ‘such a weird freak show’, and prattling off this long list of insults I don’t even think I was listening to..” He took a deep breath. “So I kicked her out of the van.”

“You _what?!_ Did you just leave her stranded?!” He shook his head.

“No, I called her parents and said that I was a concerned fellow student who heard she was going up there to get high with her stupid teeny bopper friends while they all cheated on their homework.”

“You _lied?!_ ” Again, he shook his head.

“Not really, no; she told me they go there to do that all the time, once we got up there.” Mabel sat, dumbfounded.

“So, you dumped your date _and_ ratted her out, for being a bitch? Yikes, glad you can’t date me, if we ever broke up you’d have so much dirt to ruin my life!” He chuckled weakly.

“You’d ruin mine just as fast. Along with my face, you’re stupid strong and I’ve seen you leave bruises on guys you’ve just slapped.” He sighed, curling up tighter. “Mabel, can… can I tell you something?”

“You know you can tell me anything, bro-bro. We’re besties.”

“I… kind of wish I didn’t have my birthmark, sometimes. Nights like tonight make me feel like,” he admitted, pausing to sniffle for a moment, “like a freak. Like as long as it’s there, I’m never going to find anyone to love me, all because of some stupid, differently colored dots of skin…”

“Dipper Pines,” she said flatly, using a hand to push the hair up off of his forehead. His eyes squinted shut as she revealed said birthmark. She leaned down, planting a tiny kiss on each dot there. “Your birthmark is an amazing part of who you are. It has made you stronger than you realize, and I think it’s rather handsome…”

He smiled weakly, rubbing a hand under his nose. “Thanks, Mabes. But if you don’t mind, I think I’d like to just sleep this bad mood away.” She nodded, leaning down and planting another kiss between his eyes. He felt his ears growing hot, for some reason.

“G’night, bro. Feel better in the morning.”

When she was out of the room, he touched his fingers to his forehead and felt a small grin cross his features.

_As long as Mabel loves me for who I am, I guess I’m okay._

———

———

As time went on, Dipper started to notice a certain way that his sister was starting to take up a lot of his thinking time. Whenever he wasn’t mulling over schoolwork, or reading a book, his thoughts were besieged by his sister.

The way she laughed, her smile, her smile once she had her braces off, and then her smile again when she bedazzled a clear, thin plastic mouth guard so her teeth would glitter again. The way she looked at him whenever he was helping her with her homework, with those honey-brown eyes.

When sat on the couch, she would cozy up to him while watching TV or movies. Not once did she ever seem to show any signs of slowing down with her cuddly ways. It became even more awkward when Dipper realized the thoughts were infatuation, a crush, on his own sister no less. She would flop against him, hugging close, her lithe, curvy form under her sweater pushing into his side.

Before long he was finding himself thinking of her when he was, what some would call, “chopping wood”? He felt an immense wave of guilt every time, but he couldn’t stop. Mabel consumed his thoughts, and one night, while laying awake and staring at the ceiling, it all hit him like a ton of bricks.

“Uh oh.”

———

———

He had planned everything; he would take her out to eat, and then to a movie. Then, when they got home, he’d finally tell her why he’d been slightly avoiding her. For better or worse, he had to get these feelings off of his chest.

They had been standing in the hallway at home when he kissed her. She had locked up, her lips unmoving, eyes wide with apprehension. He’d fucked it up, he’d ruined everything. Apologizing quickly, he retreated to his room.

 _Good fucking job, Dipper. The one woman you can see an actual future with and you fuck it all up because of course she doesn’t feel that way, she’s your sister! You just basically committed a sin against nature with this._ He shouted in frustration into his pillow. _You just lost a best friend and sister, too. God fucking dammit._

He spent the next couple of days avoiding her whenever able. It seemed wrong to be a constant reminder of how fucked up her own flesh and blood was, if he was in the same room as her. And she seemed to be avoiding him too, so, okay, at least they had wordlessly agreed seeing one another was too weird now. He could live with this, it helped kill the shame, until he realized he missed her.

Then he would sulk in his room, waiting forever until he heard her door close. Only then would he make sure the coast was clear before leaving his own room.

On the third day, though, she confronted him.

“Dipper, we need to talk.” He shook his head, trying to edge past her, but she maintained her wide stance, blocking his escape.

“Mabel, seriously, I’m sorry about the whole thing. I shouldn’t have thought you’d feel-well, I mean, that you could… Ugh, I’m such a disgusting fuck up, I promise I’ll leave you alone so you don’t have to be ashamed of me, please! Just let me-”

His sentence was cut short by Mabel grabbing his shirt collar, and tugging him in for a kiss. For a brief moment, he realized how she felt three nights ago; the unexpected move made him lock up in hesitant fear. Was this happening, like for real?

When she kissed again, he melted into it, his hands landing on her hips. When they separated, she smiled sheepishly.

“So, we good, Dippingsauce?”

“I, um… if you mean that as in, your kiss being a reciprocation of what I was trying to say a few nights ago, and uh…” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Gods I’m so awkward.”

“Awkward is cute on you. Probably what made me like you so much to begin with,” she noted. He blushed.

“You mean, you… you’ve felt like this for awhile?” She nodded.

“A little bit, I mean, we’re best friends. It’s kinda hard not to think of what it would be like to be like that with your best friend, even if they are your bro-bro, yanno?” She punctuated it with a shrug. “You just really caught me off guard with that kiss, man. I thought you were trying to force yourself to reciprocate for me or somethin’ and then got all weird. I figured maybe you just needed some alone time after I freaked out a little, but it’s been lonely without my best bro.”

“Yeah, I sorta thought you would like… Hate me after I did that. I pretty much forced myself on you.” She waved it off.

“Pffff, it was a little smooch, man. Not like you threw tongue in there.”

He turned beet red.

“Would… uh, do you want me to?” She giggled and playfully elbowed him.

“Let’s just take it slow at first, eh?” He nodded in agreement, and leaned in to plant a smooch on her forehead.

“I love you, Mabel.”

“I love you too, Dip.”

———

———

“And for the last two-ish years, that’s been that!” Mabel said.

“That’s actually really sweet,” Pacifica said, tipping her bottle upside down with a pout. “Aw man, empty. Probably for the best anyhow.”

“Probably. Plus this was all that was left, really.” Pacifica’s pout turned into an angry frown. “What’s wrong?”

“I _paid_ for three _cases_ of hard cider and they drank all but three bottles of it before I got to it?! I have half a mind to bill those assholes.” Dipper snorted, laughing happily. “What’s so funny about that?”

“That just sounds so much more like the Pacifica that Mabel and I made friends with all those years ago,” he noted with a grin. His sister nodded happily beside him.

“Yeah, it’s nice to see you getting back to your old self,” she added, reaching across her brother’s shoulders to pat the blonde on the shoulder. Pacifica shook her head.

“I don’t want to be _that_ girl anymore, though. I don’t know who I wanna be…” A heavy sigh escaped her. “I’m really sorry, again, for the whole trying-to-drunkenly-seduce-the-both-of-you thing.”

“Hey, you didn’t know!” Mabel stated. “Besides, I think Dipper kinda liked having your boobs squished up against him,” she added with a teasing eyebrow waggle. He bit his lip and stared straight ahead at the ocean, refusing to look at either girl.

“Yeah, but you got really red staring at her ass, though,” he fired back after a moment. Mabel’s eyes went wide. Pacifica started to giggle.

“Okay, okay, sheesh, you don’t have to keep reminding me of my drunken escapades. I promise I’m not going to do it ever again, anyhow,” she said, fiddling with the bottle in her hands, tugging at the corner of the label with her fingernails. “I mean, you two are together, so despite any latent crushes I might harbor, that ship has sailed.”

Mabel got one of those looks, one that meant she had a scheme or plot going through her mind. She leaned up in Dipper’s ear and whispered something. He snapped his head to look at her, brows furrowed. She shrugged. He made a movement with his head as if to ask ‘you sure?’ She nodded with a small grin.

“So, Pacifica,” he said. She perked up with a hum of acknowledgement. “Mabel has something she wanted to ask you!”

“What no I said you should-argh!” The Pines girl took a deep breath and sighed. Pacifica was watching her expectantly. “Would you like, I dunno, maybe, to go… see a movie, or eat out, or something with us tonight?”

“I… guess that would be okay? Why, afraid if you leave me alone that I’ll relapse?” she joked, but her tone was a bit sad. Dipper quickly shook his head.

“No, she-I mean, we wondered if, you’d like to, yanno,” he offered, rubbing at his neck. “If maybe you’d mind… going on a date?”

Pacifica’s brow furrowed, her eyes darting from one twin’s face to the next. One of her eyebrows crept up her face a bit, blue eyes boring holes into Dipper.

“A date, with one of you?” Mabel shook her head.

“No, both of us!”

“I… what? That would just seem kind of-”

“Weird?” Dipper finished. “I thought you said weird was normal for Mabes and myself. And, you seem to talk like you’ve been carrying a torch or two.” Pacifica hoped the low sunlight was hiding her blush.

“Are you sure? I don’t want to risk fucking up the relationship you have…”

“Pacifica, we’ve put up with each other for awhile. So long as you know we’re a package deal then I _think_ we’ll be able to manage,” Mabel said.

She felt herself smiling as her heart fluttered. In some roundabout, twisted, accidental way, her party plan was starting to work. Just, in no way like she had planned. In fact, fuck the plan. She was going to follow her heart, not her vengeance scheme.

“I’d like that.”

-End Part 3-


	4. Chapter 4

**_=Early August=_ **

_Jessica ran for her life._

_She should have listened! The old woman in line at the bank had warned her not to buy this house, tried to explain that it was befallen by a horrible curse. But she had just brushed it off; curses weren’t real, and it was hard to find houses that old and well built that hadn’t hosted a murder or two in their time._

_She banked around the corner, screaming out her for her daughter. “MADDIE! Maddie where are you?!” Her daughter didn’t respond. She heard laughter behind herself, and went rigid against the wall as she turned the next corner, near the top of the stairs. Her pursuer’s shadow loomed on the hallway floor as lightning struck, illuminating the dark house._

_“Maddie’s at the **tea party** ,” she heard the childlike voice proclaim, the curve of a long kitchen knife outlined in the shadow, leading into a stumpy forearm. “We would all just love it so if you came to **play** with us!”_

_Mister Tubbs, the teddy bear, sprang out into the open, knife raised. Jessica shrieked, and was thankfully faster than the possessed toy, kicking him over the railing to the floor below. He landed with a squeak, his knife clattering to the floor where he once stood. Jessica bent down to swipe it up, unaware of the doll sneaking up behind her, scissors raised to strike_ , _before suddenly plummeting-_

Pacifica stifled a scream and covered her eyes, fingers fanning out a couple of seconds later. She sighed with relief as she watched the doll’s head clamber to the head of the stairs on the movie screen. A shudder ran down her spine. Mabel’s hand fished into the popcorn bucket held between the blonde’s knees.

“Okay, I concede. This movie is _terrifying_ ,” she grumbled to the Pines girl. Mabel just nodded, her eyes wide and unblinking as she shoveled the handful of popcorn into her open mouth. Clearly the film wasn’t having any adverse effects on her, but on Pacifica’s left, she felt Dipper jerk when an old clown puppet leapt on top of Jessica from a book case.

“Why couldn’t we just watch a Disney movie,” she heard him whine under his breath. She twisted to face him, and gave his knee a comforting pat. He replied with a silent, grateful nod and nervous grin. She settled back in her seat, absentmindedly watching the movie while the last day and a half played over in her head.

Her party, and plan to seduce one or even both of the twins into bed with her that night, had been a total bust. Instead, the twins did what they usually did in worrisome situations and tried to fix it. They broke up the party, flushed her stash, and then helped her clean the house the next day. Not that it had been without it’s drama, what with her stumbling onto their relationship as a couple. And then, of all things, they had asked her out on a date. It was all a little too weird for her.

 _Then again, maybe ‘weird’ is what I need in my life?_ She sighed happily, lifting her soda to take a sip. On either side of her, each twin started to yawn, arms stretching. _Are they both seriously going to-okay, yes they are._ She smirked as both Dipper and Mabel wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She felt her cheeks growing pink as she nestled happily into the embrace. Yeah, sure, it was a lame thing to do, but she had never really been on a date proper, with anybody that hadn’t been hand picked by her parents. Being out on a date-date, with stereotypical date things happening, was actually alright with her.

Uncertain how long her mind had wandered, she turned her attention back to the film. On the screen, Jessica had holed herself up in the study, and was wielding a fireplace poker like a two-handed weapon. She was backing away from the door, which was bouncing in its hinges as heavy object on the other side continuously slammed into it. After going so far, she was standing under a wall of mounted animal heads. Pacifica felt a chill go down her spine. Just when she thought it couldn’t get any worse, it did; two of the heads snarled to life, and made an attempt to bite Jessica.

Pacifica went white with fear, her hands snatching out and grasping onto either twin’s leg as panic overtook her. Her heart thudded in her chest, goosebumps prickling along her skin. Her entire frame shook in her seat. When she finally managed to wrench her eyes from the screen, she heard hushed voices on either side of herself.

To her left, Dipper’s voice was strained, his leg tense. Under his breath he kept muttering, rapidly, “Nails, nails, nails, nails…” To her right, Mabel whimpered, biting into her lower lip, legs contrasting her brother’s as she squirmed in place. Pacifica finally realized her manicured nails were digging into either twins’ leg, and she relaxed her grip. Dipper visibly relaxed, and Mabel was flushed. She made certain to mentally catalog that info as she gave each of her dates an apologetic smile. Dipper just nodded, his free hand rubbing over the claw-marks dug into his knee. Mabel smiled, breathing with a sort of thankful, yet embarrassed relief as her legs clamped together.

Pacifica found the rest of the movie very difficult to focus on, her mind racing. Those noises of bliss that had caught in Mabel’s throat, oh those were amazing. Part of her was tempted to dig her nails back into Mabel’s knee, gently, just to hear that song again. At the same time, she felt horrible that the same thing on Dipper had resulted in an entirely different sort of response, and she was desperate to ask how to make it up to him. She kept glancing at his knee, where his hand rubbed at the tender spot, then back to his face. Every time he caught her eye, he would smile sheepishly. She would grin back, apologetically, and he would shrug. He clearly wasn’t bothered, but it still irked her a smidgen.

When the credits finally rolled, they hurried their way out of the theater. Once they were in the main lobby, Mabel bounced impatiently and scanned the room. “Sorry you two but I def’ gotta find the little Mabel’s room or I’m gonna be making puddles!” she declared, running off to one side. Dipper and Pacifica both chuckled.

“I told her that the giant drink was gonna make her have to go,” he remarked. Pacifica nodded her agreement. He turned to the blonde girl and and held out his hands, palms up, fingers splayed. “Sooo…?”

“So what?” she asked, eyebrows lifting. He grumbled something under his breath, rubbing at the back of his neck. It was a sign she had learned long ago meant he was feeling anxious. “What’s wrong, Dipper?”

“Hopefully nothing!” he fired back, maybe a bit too fast. “Sorry, I just… in case the story about Mabel and me getting together didn’t tell you, I’m lousy at first dates and I hope this one wasn’t, yanno… too bad?” He cupped a hand and tilted his head into it, rubbing at his forehead and eyes. “Oh who am I kidding, that was a horrible movie choice…”

A hand pried his own from his face before Pacifica leaned up and planted a small kiss on the edge of his jawline. “It was _fine_ , Dipper. You and your sister didn’t even act like it was anything huge, really. You just brought me along for the ride like when we would go see movies in Gravity Falls, it’s just this time I knew there was something else under it all.” A thoughtful look crossed her visage. “Aaand I just now realized why so many of the times I sat between you guys during movie nights, for the last two years, it seemed like there was tension. Wow.”

“Hey, no worries, you didn’t know. Watching movies with anyone else seemed just as strange,” he commented. “Also, the number of excuses Mabel has had to come up with to get Gideon to leave her alone was absurd.” She laughed at that, recalling all the times the little white haired fiend would harass Mabel. He had been truly relentless for years on end.

“Hey, you two, you havin’ all the fun without me?” Mabel sauntered back up, leaning over to plant a smooch on Pacifica’s cheek. The blonde blushed, looking around the lobby quickly as if the act would be easily picked out as strange, but nobody seemed to even pay them any mind. She quickly reminded herself that here, she was just another person out on the town. Next to nobody knew who the Northwest family was.

“Just reminiscing,” Dipper admitted. Mabel seemed to find that answer satisfactory, leaning up to plant a kiss on her brother as well. Pacifica blushed seeing the level of intimacy the twins easily flaunted, and guessed being out in the open wasn’t that big of a deal if nobody else knew who they were, either. Especially since nobody at all seemed to be paying attention to the trio. “So, what do we do now?”

“Mabel demands num nums!” his sister declared. With a roll of his eyes, he turned to Pacifica.

“What about you, Pacifica? You hungry?” She shrugged.

“Popcorn isn’t much of a meal, I could stand to eat something more substantial.”

“Alright then, where should we eat?”

———

———

Dipper stared down at his plate; the steak was enormous, and smelled wondrous. The crust of peppercorns and seasoning added to the luscious, beefy smell, and his innards growled with strained, aroused hunger. It was his, all his, and yet, he couldn’t bring himself to cut into the slab of meat. Pacifica must have noticed, because she waved in front of his eyes.

“Earth to Dipper? You’re not developing a conscience and threatening to turn vegan on us, are you?” she demanded. He shook his head, frowning. Across the table, his sister was happily shoveling her meal of chicken-and-mushroom white-wine risotto into her mouth, humming around each bite as though it were a hymn of thanks. Pacifica’s plate had an entire lobster, split into two halves, the hollow cavity of the thorax stuffed with a fragrant, herbal stuffing mixture.

“Pacifica, each of these meals cost more than all three movie tickets, popcorn, and sodas _combined_ ,” he conceded. “Are you sure you’re okay with paying for all of this? I mean, you said that your fa-er, Preston cut you off, right?”

“I’ve been moving money into my own accounts since the year he tried to invest in _‘weirdness bonds’_ ,” she explained, using air quotes around the words. “I’ve got plenty of my own funds, and after this whole weekend, what with the party, the cleanup and now this date? I wanted to give back to you both.”

He merely tilted his head in a slight nod, stabbing into the steak with his fork and dragging the knife in his other hand over the surface of the meat. Steam poured from the new divide cut into it, the newly revealed, inner surface displaying a resplendent pink color, and barely any juices running onto the plate. He held the morsel up to his mouth with his fork, and, as if defusing a bomb, carefully popped it into his mouth before chewing experimentally.

His eyes shut of their own accord, rolling up into his skull momentarily as he teeth slowly worked on the bite within. He almost could have rolled the piece of beef against the roof of his mouth with his tongue to break it up; it was like beefy, meaty butter. He instantly cut off a second, much bigger slice, and as soon as he had the first swallowed, popped the second into his mouth. When he opened his eyes, Pacifica was staring, her cheeks a bit pink. He glanced over to his twin, also staring. He hurriedly chewed and swallowed the second bite.

“What?”

“I’ve never heard you moan like that, before,” Pacifica replied with a hushed tone, her eyes glancing at some of the neighbouring tables. Mabel’s face was split with an ornery grin.

“Oh, but _I have_ ,” she added, popping another forkful of her creamy rice dish into her own mouth. Dipper felt himself getting redder, and he silently took a drink of water in an attempt to cool himself off. Pacifica looked about as red as he felt.

“ _Mabel!_ ” he hissed, glancing over at their friend-slash-date. “I don’t think Paz wants to hear about that sort of thing over dinner.” She didn’t respond, instead pulling her lips into her mouth and biting softly to hold them shut, to try and stop the growing smile of mischief there.

The rest of the course passed in a hushed, awkward silence. Mabel continued to hum happily around her bites of food, while Pacifica dutifully chewed each bite of her lobster. Dipper methodically cut away at and ate the steak, careful to keep any sounds he made very quiet. When all three had finished with their plates, a waiter rolled by with a cart. Removing the lid, he revealed a myriad of desserts.

“Créme brulee, for my ladyfriend,” Pacifica stated, not even giving Mabel a chance to speak up. “The gentleman will take a slice of tiramisu, and I would like your bananas foster.” Dipper gawked at her for a moment, but the server pushing the cart merely nodded. He turned on a small burner, built into the cart, to start up Pacifica’s order before sprinkling some coarse sugar over top of a dish of custard, then turning back to the blonde’s dessert.

In a skillet over the flame, he melted butter before tossing in some brown sugar, spices, and drizzling in a liquid from a bottle with a banana on the side. To the pan he added a halved banana, spooning the sauce over the mixture before removing the fruit to the side. He then dropped in a splash of rum and, with a well timed and practiced toss of the pan, ignited the mixture inside. The flames burnt with a dark orange glow in the low light of the dining room. Several nearby tables ooh’d and awed, politely clapping as if they were at a golf tournament. Once the flames died down, he plated the dish with a small scoop of ice cream and set it in front of her.

Next, grabbing up the dish of custard again, he lit a small blowtorch that he produced from under the cart. He waved the flame over the bowl’s contents, the sugar bubbling as it became an amber colored liquid. With a tilt, he spun the bowl while continuously burning the sugar, which flowed freely until it covered the entire surface of the custard within. Placing a sliced strawberry on top with a sprig of mint, he set this in front of Mabel, whose eyes glittered the same color of the sugar-shell surface.

Dipper, with some slight disappointment, got no show or flair with his dish. The slice of confection was cut, plated, dusted gently with powdered sugar and placed in front of him, the server then bowing, and rolling his cart along. Choosing not to dwell on the lack of presentation with his own dessert, he bore down through the layers of flavor with a spoon and took a bite.

Suddenly the lack of a show for his dish didn’t matter; this made the steak look like a McDonald’s hamburger patty. He curled his lower lip inwards and bit down to stifle a moan, and mentally made the note that he _had_ to pay Pacifica back for this meal eventually. Across the table he heard a loud crack and crunch, followed by a sharp, nasal intake of breath from his sister. Hers seemed to be just as good as his, if the sounds she made were any indicator.

Pacifica, meanwhile, ate hers in relative silence. She would glance up at either twin, a small, warm smile crossing her face before she focused back on her own dessert. She felt a bubbling wellspring of warmth rise in her heart and stomach every time one of them caught her gaze and smiled back, a genuine and thankful expression.

 _I’m just glad that in some small measure, I can pay you both back for everything,_ she thought inwardly. When the bill arrived, she silently slid her bank card into the envelope and sent it off with their waiter. Each of the twins thanked her profusely for such an amazing meal, but she simply waved it off as the least she could do.

“Looks like you took over this date, huh?” Dipper joked lightly. She suddenly felt very self conscious.

“Oh god, is, is that bad? Should I not have done this? You both asked me out and then I turned around and paid so much for both of you in turn,” she fretted, the social faux-pas she had presumably committed stressing her in a flash. Mabel grabbed her hand and gave a gentle squeeze.

“Paz, stop freakin’ out. I dunno if you’ve stopped to think it over yet but Dip and I aren’t exactly doin’ the normal thing when it comes to how dates and relationships go,” she stated. “Plus, you are on a date with two people instead of just one, and those two people _happen_ to be brother and sister. Societal norms be damned, woman!”

“Mabel, quieter, please!” Pacifica begged. Dipper nodded hurriedly.

“Yeah, nobody in here knows who-or what-you and I are, can we not mess up our trying to be low-key with that?” She pouted, nodding apologetically.

“‘m sorry. It’s just nice to finally be out and about and stuff. We haven’t been on a date in a long time, Dip. I got a little excited.” He sighed and leaned across the table to wrap his fingers around his sister’s.

“Yeah, I know. Between work and school, I haven’t had a lot of time for that,” he noted. He turned to Pacifica. “Thank you, so much, for coming out with us tonight. It means a lot.”

“Oh, no, Dipper,” she said, trying to hide a blush as she rubbed at her own cheek. “The pleasure was all mine.”

———

———

The first thing Pacifica did, upon their return to the beach house, was turn every porcelain doll in the house around to face the walls. The twins gladly helped, Dipper moreso than Mabel. Pacifica sighed with relief once they had every doll facing away, or tucked under or behind something.

“I always hated Priscilla’s collection at the manor, this one is no better,” she noted glumly. The twins just nodded. With a yawn, Dipper stretched and shook his head.

“Aw man, it’s getting late. Is it fine if we crash here for one more night or…?” he asked. Pacifica mulled it over.

“I’m not really sure. I don’t want to risk still being here if one of the gardeners or housekeepers or anyone show up in the morning…” Dipper nodded with understanding.

“Well, luckily I have two more days before school break is up, and one more before work. We can probably hole up in a hotel, somewhere.”

———

———

“There’s only one bed.”

“And…?” Mabel offered. Pacifica stared at the brunette girl blankly.

“It’s huge, but we’ve only been on one date, why did you ask for a room with _one_ bed?!”

“It’s all they had, Pacifica. Plus didn’t you and Mabel sleep in your bed during sleepovers, together? It’s not like we’re all gonna just jump into a threesome right off the bat,” Dipper said. She frowned and drug a hand over her face. “If it bugs you that much I can sleep on the couch?”

“No, I don’t want to split you two up for a night!” She eyeballed the couch herself, stepping over and staring at it. “I can take the sofa.”

“Are ya sure, Paz? It’d be no trouble if we all pile into one bed,” Mabel insisted. Pacifica shook her head.

“You two sleep on the bed. I’ll stay on the couch. Just… no doing lewd things when you think I’m asleep, alright?”

“Wouldn’t dream of it. That’s like, what, fourth date material, right Mabes?” Dipper said flatly. Pacifica blushed, but when she saw his grin she knew he was pulling her leg. “But, really, if you want to sleep in the bed just say so, Pacifica, it’s no big deal.”

“No, no! I’ll be fine, the couch is fine.”

———

———

The couch was not fine.

It was lumpy, and stiff, and too short for her to spread out on. She had never slept on such a small surface, especially one so uncomfortable. She turned over, flipped her pillow, turned over _again_ , but nothing helped. Not one thing. When she rolled over again, she stared at the bed and the two bodies pressed closely together on top of the king size mattress.

 _Maybe there IS enough room…_ She bit at her lower lip, internally struggling. She dreaded the thought of waking the twins up, but the bed looked so much softer and inviting than the rock of a couch she was scrunched up on. _Oh, to hell with it, Pacifica. They both told you it was fine if you shared the bed!_

Silently, she stood up off of the couch and circled over to the edge of the bed. Mabel was just in the center of the bed, under the comforter, with Dipper’s arm wrapped around her abdomen. His face was buried against the top of her head, and both of them appeared to be snoozing away peacefully. She frowned, and with a sigh turned back around. Before she could take one step over to the couch, the sound of movement caught her ear and she turned back to face the twins.

Mabel had, without even opening her eyes, tugged the bedspread down, and was patting the empty space. “Geddin,” she mumbled. Pacifica just stared, wondering if Mabel was even awake. As if blindly aware of her apprehension, Mabel pointed a finger directly at her, then at the Pacifica-sized space on the bed. “I said get in…”

With a defeated sigh, Pacifica sat on the edge of the bed and wiggled into place, putting about six inches between herself and the twins’ position. She tugged the covers up and rolled to face the other way, getting comfortable. Then with a small squeak of panic, she felt herself tugged into a hug, Mabel pulling her close.

“It’s ‘bout time,” Dipper mumbled lazily, shifting to get comfy as Mabel forcibly settled the blonde girl against herself. “Goodnight, Pacifica.”

“Night-night, Paz,” Mabel breathed dreamily, planting a soft kiss on her shoulder. She felt herself flush red in the darkness, settling in against her friend’s embrace.

“Goodnight…”

———

———

_**=Mid-August=** _

Two weeks had passed since that fateful party, and then that first date. This night would be date number three. Pacifica sat in front of the mirror of her vanity, her roommate pestering for information.

“Oh come ooon, you won’t even tell me his name and this is your third date?! Are you afraid I’m gonna slut all over and steal your man?!” Pacifica scoffed playfully.

“Please, Kylie, who even said it was a guy?!” she teased back. Kylie gasped and whirled around.

“Are you lezzing out on me, Pacifica?!” she giggled, wiggling her eyebrows in a way that struck Pacifica as a poor attempt to imitate Mabel. She rolled her eyes.

“No, you doofus, I’m not ‘lezzing out’ on you, as you so insensitively put it,” she said with a dry tone of voice. “I just don’t think I should kiss and tell.” Kylie ran a hand through her dyed-pink hair with a heavy groan. “What?”

“You used to be such a fun party girl, Paxy! We had you drinking and partying, and now you’re all straight-and-narrow again. What happened at that beach house?” her roommate probed. The blonde turned around to glare at her.

“I came to the realization that boozing and slutting my way through my youth as high as a kite wasn’t going to accomplish anything,” she spat. “Besides, I think they might be serious.”

“They? They who? This guy?” Pacifica remained tight lipped. “Or is it this _girl?_ ” Silence. “Oh c’mon, it’s not like you’re gonna weird me out if you’re with a guy or a girl or anything! I just want the juicy gossiiip,” Kylie whined in a nasally voice. A knock at the front door of their small apartment caught her attention though. Before Pacifica could object, the girl had dashed to answer it.

“W-wait!” Pacifica muttered a curse under her breath and tied her hair back in a quick ponytail. It would have to suffice. She walked out into the living room in a hurry, hollering after Kylie. She froze with fear when she saw Dipper and Mabel both sitting on the couch, chatting with a very confused pink haired roommate.

“So, which one of you is she going out with?” she was asking. Dipper and Mabel gave each other inquisitive looks.

“Hmm, not sure. What do you say, Mabel? Which one of us is she going out with?”

“I’ll rock-paper-scissor you for her!” Mabel declared, making a fist in preparation to throw one of the three signs. Dipper snorted with laughter. Pacifica felt her heart do flips in her stomach before she grabbed her roommate by the arm.

“Would you excuse my roommate and I? Thank you be right back!” Tugging her back out of the room, she waited for the eventual onslaught of strange questions.

“Are… are you dating both of them?” Kylie whispered, listening to the siblings play their game with giggles, Mabel’s voice demanding ‘best three out of five’. Pacifica wasn’t sure if she was turning white or red, she just knew she felt her skin change color. Or maybe she was developing lizard camouflage and could disappear. That would be nice.

“I… uh…” she stammered, unable to think of a proper response. Kylie gasped and held a hand to her mouth.

“Oh my god that’s so _cool!_ This is just like the one fanfiction I love to read! How do you know them?!” Pacifica was taken aback. She knew Kylie tended to be more liberal minded, but she hadn’t anticipated something like this. She could only stare.

“We, uh, met back home, in Gravity Falls,” she admitted. Too late she realized she had said too much, as gears were turning in the pink-clad noggin across from her. When the girl’s eyes grew enormous, she turned back to look into the living room, where the twins knelt on either side of the coffee table, arm wrestling. Mabel was winning.

“Are they… I mean, are those the two friends you said you were gonna invite to the party?!” Oh no, no no no, Kylie couldn’t guess it! “Are those the twins?!”

“I… I… Um…” She was wringing her hands in panic now. Only three dates and her secret was out?! Great, she was ruined. She’d have to change schools. Could she transfer her credits from this school? Did schools on the east coast take mid-semester admissions?

“They’re _hot!_ ”

“W…wha-”

“Paxy my girl, you didn’t tell me they were hot! And you’re dating both of them?! How are they not jealous of each other?!” Pacifica sneered with confused disbelief.

“It’s… kind of complicated?”

———

———

“She figured us out, just like that?!” Dipper asked with a panicked stutter. Mabel, meanwhile, just shrugged.

“Dipper, she seemed pretty cool! She said she hoped we all had fun on our date, together,” she said. Pacifica bounced a knee nervously while the twins spread out the picnic blanket on the hilltop.

“Kylie is surprisingly open minded,” Pacifica admitted. “She seemed more enthralled than grossed out, I mean, when she learned I was dating the both of you. Finding out that you were the twins I always talked about just piqued her curiosity further…”

“Yeah but, does she know that it’s all three of us and not just you, with both Mabel and I?” He was forcing a casual tone, focusing on smoothing out wrinkles in the large blanket. He had a tendency to nitpick at details of certain things when he was nervous, Pacifica noticed.

“She just had more questions, like how long you two had been together and how we got into this three-way-relationship thing,” she explained. “Then she said something about how she had to tell her fanfiction group about this, but she would withhold our names out of respect for privacy.”

“Does it not bother you how fast she picked up on all of that, though? I feel kind of transparent, now,” Dipper moaned.

“She’s a psych major, Dipper. And she’s been acing her classes from day one, I just wish she hadn’t been so abrupt in admitting she found us out.”

“Hey, you two, quit letting your heads be janky,” Mabel chastised, pulling a bottle of wine from the cooler they had packed along.

“Mabes, where did you get that?” Dipper asked, more curious than upset. She was already busy twisting a corkscrew into the rubber cork, her tongue poking out from between her lips as she focused. With a tug and a ‘POP!’ the stopper came free. She grinned wide, and poured the contents into three plastic goblets.

“Grunkle Stan,” she replied, offering little else in the way of explanation. Dipper rolled his eyes.

“Pacifica was right, back after the party. You are a delinquent.” All the same, he took the proffered plastic glass of red, fruity smelling drink. She handed the other to Pacifica, who frowned thoughtfully at the glass.

“I really don’t think I should drink too much of this,” she muttered, sipping gently at it. Mabel waved off the concerned comment.

“Paz, girl, I don’t think you’re gonna go wild again. We’re just here to watch the fireworks and snuggle on a blanket together.” She extended a hand to the blonde, who took it, sitting between the twins softly. Before too long, the fireworks were painting the night sky in glittering, temporary flashes of light and color. Her mind wandered as they admired the show.

While at first, being stuck between the two of them since learning of their relationship, she had felt like she was intruding. Now they kept sticking her there, whether they were out on an official date or just hanging out in the twins’ apartment. It felt like she had always belonged there. Maybe she had.

Halfway into the show, she had hit the bottom of her glass of wine and was feeling just buzzed enough to feel a little more confident. Each of the twins had their arm around her, and hands clasped across her lap. She ran a hand of her own over the adjoined fingers, sighing happily. Dipper nuzzled in against her from one side, Mabel’s head leaning on her shoulder.

“I love you,” she heard her own voice mumble. “Both of you.”

_Pacifica, what are you doing?! Isn’t it too soon for this kind of thing?! You’re going to mess it all up, and before you know it you’ll be getting hammered at frat houses again, looking to get laid like some sort of harlot._

“I love you too,” Mabel muttered, cuddling closer. Dipper hummed and nodded.

“Yep, you’re kind of stuck with us, cuz I love you too.” She felt her face growing red with blush, and she decided to blame it on the wine. Before she could say anything else, they both kissed her on the cheek from either side.

“Smooch sammich!” Mabel declared, and Pacifica couldn’t help but squeal with a high pitched laugh.

“You dorks!”

“We’re _your_ dorks,” Dipper confirmed, nosing against her ear. She turned to face him, and his lips caught hers. Her breath hitched, and the flash of light from the fireworks overhead glittered through her eyelids as she melted into the kiss. When the kiss broke, Mabel’s hand cupped the side of her face and pulled her into a second meeting of mouths.

Dipper’s lips were rough, salty and firm, whereas his sister’s were soft, sweet and tender. Perfect opposites, complements to one another. Pacifica was no longer sure if it was the wine or the perfect mix of contrasting qualities the twins’ kisses had, but her head swam dizzily. Being kissed by them both one after the other was like eating a salted caramel, with a soft raspberry drizzle over the entire thing. It was addictive.

“W-wait!” she stammered, after the kiss with Mabel broke off. “I… I don’t wanna rush anything and I really, really wanna be sober for when we all, well, you know…” she protested. Mabel pouted, but she felt Dipper shrug.

“It took Mabes and I a year to decide we were ready for that step,” he stated, “so if you want to take it slow we won’t object.”

“Can’t we object just a _little?_ ” Mabel whined, but a quick pinch to her side from Dipper made her yipe and sit up straight. “Okay, okay! I was just teasin’ anyhow. I’m not gonna make her do anything she doesn’t want to.”

Pacifica relaxed, the pressure easing off of her mind. She wasn’t going to be rushed, she would take the next step when she felt good and ready.

———

———

_**=Mid September=** _

She was good and ready, alright.

Pacifica and Mabel had been lounging around the twins’ apartment, while Dipper was away on a double shift at his job. The girls were doing makeovers, and Mabel was painting Pacifica’s toenails while they sat on the bed. She had braided her long, blonde tresses into a thick braid that came down to just between her shoulder blades. They had been discussing school and work, Mabel lamenting that her current job wasn’t giving her enough hours, which is why her brother was off on a double shift that night. It was when she blew on Pacifica’s freshly painted nails, causing her to shiver and gasp, that the discussion seemed to lose its focus.

Soon Mabel’s lips were pressed to the top of the dainty foot she held by the ankle, trailing kisses from toes to ankle, occasionally blowing softly against the wet skin. Pacifica squirmed all the while, toes clenched tightly, eyes fixated on Mabel’s as she gnawed at her own knuckles. When the brunette paused along her shin, Pacifica felt her body tremble.

“Too much?” Mabel asked, mumbling the words against smooth pale skin. Pacifica shook her head quickly.

“D-don’t stop,” she begged, hands digging into the sheets under herself. Mabel smiled sweetly, humming as she planted another kiss, then another higher up, again and again until she had come to Pacifica’s knee. She propped her chin there, fingernails delicately trailing up the sides of the leg she was so passionately loving on. Eyes locked on eyes as those hands trailed up, up, under the skirt she wore. Fingernails danced back down thighs, then up again, never digging in, instead leaving trails of goosebumps in their wake.

Mabel rubbed her cheek against Pacifica’s knee, sighing happily. “I love you, Paz.” Pacifica felt her heart melt; this wasn’t the platonic sort of love between two friends, or even the kind you admit to when you first start to feel something for another person. This was Mabel confessing, laying bare a part of her soul. It was almost too much for Pacifica to stand. “I want to make you feel good, but I don’t wanna push…”

“… push.”

“What?” Brown eyes stared into blue, searching for confirmation.

“Push me, please. I want this. I want you.” Mabel bit down on her lower lip, slinking up the bed to straddle over the rich girl. “I love you, please, just touch me, kiss me, anything…”

Mabel obliged, lips crashing into lips, tongues soon lashing out at one another, twisting together in synchronized movement, each girl moaning against the other. Pacifica wasn’t sure if she removed her own top or if Mabel did it for her. She just knew that as soon as it was off, Mabel’s lips and fingers started working magic on her nipples, the perfectly pink flesh quickly perked under the attention. Pacifica could only writhe, thighs rubbing together, hands grasping at sheets, the only words escaping her a mixture of “oh god”, “don’t stop” and “Mabel please”, her voice rising in volume and pitch until a sudden squeal of orgasm cut through the air.

Had it not been for Mabel’s weight pushing down on her, she might have thrashed. Pacifica had never quite had an orgasm purely through nipple stimulation, and the fact that she was boggling over it only added to the rush she was receiving. Her eyes rolled up into her skull, and hands grasped blindly until they found Mabel’s shoulders. She hauled the girl up and locked their lips together again, her teeth tugging at Mabel’s lower lip. Hands shot up the back of the brunette’s tank top, nails hooking down and pressing into the flesh along either side of the girl’s spine; not hard enough to hurt, but vaguely reminiscent of the grip against her knee, back during the movie on their first date. Mabel melted against her, a quivering, babbling pile of loving mush.

The only words Pacifica could make out against her flesh were “please” and her name, each being uttered in staggered intervals, going from a whisper to a moan when she decided to drag her nails from just under Mabel’s shoulders to the small of her back, and up again. However, the illusion of control was quickly shattered when Mabel’s fingers danced back up Pacifica’s inner thigh, hooking into the sheer fabric of her panties and sliding up along her outer folds.

Almost immediately, Pacifica went stiff as a board, back arching, mouth open in silent cry. The fingers slid back down, then up again, circling around the bud at the peak of her valley. Her thighs slammed shut around those fingers, but a throaty, predatory chuckle gurgled from Mabel’s throat, her finger still gliding easily against the wetness she had caused. She felt a tongue slither over her collarbone, followed by teeth softly plucking at the now wet skin. Just as soon as Pacifica thought it couldn’t get any harder to avoid climaxing again then and there, Mabel proved that she might just be a tiny bit psychic, her fingers dipping past outer folds to hit inner walls instead.

Pacifica felt the tension in her midsection snap, body eager to twist this way and that as she writhed under her lover. She felt like she was hurtling through the air, flying on the high of her climax, entire body tingling. Life couldn’t have been any better in that one, brief moment, until Mabel kissed her.

There was no force, no insistent smashing of lips to lips. It was a brief, tender, meeting of one set against the other, as honest and loving a kiss as there ever could be. The two separated, a longing blue gaze meeting a blissful amber colored one. Pacifica ran her fingers through Mabel’s hair, smiling, biting her lower lip. Before either of them could do anything else, though, the door swung open.

“Finally, good god, I hate working with the afternoon crew,” Dipper complained from the other room. Pacifica’s body locked up, and she stared at Mabel. The Pines girl gave her a quizzical look.

“We can’t tell him!” Pacifica whispered, and Mabel’s look went from confused to outright flabbergasted.

“Tell him what?”

“About, this!”

“Why can’t we tell him?!”

Dipper poked his head into the room.

“What aren’t we telling me? Mabel, did you catch the drapes on fire aga-” he started to ask, undoing his work shirt as he stepped into the room. Pacifica felt like she might just die then and there, as his eyes fell on the pairing. Mabel waved with her free hand, and Pacifica merely gulped noisily. “Well then. Anyways, what aren’t we telling me?”

“Either our girlfriend has stage fright, or she thinks she and I sinning without you here is tantamount to adultery?”

“Mabel, are you reading my thesaurus again?” he teased, sitting on the edge of the bed as he undid his shoes. She sighed and pulled her other hand out from Pacifica’s skirt, noisily sucking on her fingers.

“Would it turn you on if I said I was?” she giggled around her fingers. Pacifica still wasn’t sure what to do.

“You… aren’t upset with me?” she asked meekly. Dipper twisted to look her straight in the eye, brow furrowed.

“What… why would I be mad at you?”

“You both said you were a package deal, before our first date!” she spoke, words rushed. He shrugged.

“That just meant you deal with the fact that you can’t date one and not the other, Pacifica. It’s not like we’re all going to always be in the mood for some intimacy at the exact same times.” She nodded. “Sometimes, it’ll just be two of us. Which two? Whichever two happen to catch each other in that mood. For goodness sake, I’m pretty sure Mabel still tries to secretly masturbate when I’m asleep.”

“I do not!” she protested, slapping him with a pillow.

“Yes, you do! You bite your lip and you barely move at all,” he fired back, and she shook her head.

“Nuh uh, I’m not trying to be secret about it at all! Three out of four times you roll over and join in,” she explained, striking a triumphant pose. Dipper rolled his eyes.

“As I was saying,” he went on, “Pacifica, don’t feel guilty. You were ready for one of us, and they were ready for you. You’ll probably be ready for both of us before you even realize it, alright?” He hooked a finger under her chin and tilted her face up so their eyes would meet. She nodded, looking away sheepishly.

“O-okay. I feel all kinds of silly, right about now…” she sighed, drumming her fingers on the bedspread next to herself. He leaned down and planted a soft kiss on her lips.

“We love you, that means we trust you. There’s no pressure until you think you’re ready.”

———

———

**_=Early October=_ **

Sooner than she thought she would be, Pacifica was ready again.

The twins had come up to see her while Kylie was out of town for a family function. They enjoyed visiting with her when they did, but the girl had far too many questions about the whole dynamic of their relationship. So when Pacifica had told the twins she had three days all to herself, they had shown up without warning.

A night of watching movies was interrupted by the sound of the door buzzer. Mabel sprung up out of her seat, marching off to go grab their food from the lobby. Pacifica’s building had a problem with delivery guys roaming the halls, at one point, and as such they were forced to wait at the front desk. While Mabel was gone, Dipper tugged her close and planted a kiss on her forehead.

“What was that for?” she asked, smirking. He canted his head to the side.

“Am I not allowed to want to kiss my girlfriend?” He punctuated the question with another kiss, this one on her cheek. She giggled, twisting to catch him on the lips.

“I think, that’s the first time-” she said, kissing again, “-I’ve heard you call me that.” He shrugged, apparently thinking nothing of it. But she pressed her lips to his again, feverishly. His hands found hers, grasping gently. She scooted to settle in his lap, and when he tried to twist to make it easier, they both ended up falling to the floor in a tangle of limbs, with her on top.

“Oof!” He grunted, trying to squirm around to get comfortable, but she pinned his arms over his head and bent down. Her lips pressed to the pulse point on his neck, a low, lusty moan escaping as she sucked against the skin there. He could do nothing but writhe under her. “O-oh god, Paz, c-can’t think, with you, d-doing that,” he uttered through grit teeth, sucking in a sharp breath. “Paz, p-please-”

“You’re awfully chatty when you get worked up,” she mumbled, kissing from his neck, up his jawline, to just under his ear as she shifted, her hands releasing his to disappear below her waistline. One leg lifted, then the other, and when she sat up he could see that she had been stripping off her shorts. And her underwear, too. He’d never seen her naked from the waist down, yet, so his eyes drank in the details.

She had the soft layer of fuzz just above her womanhood trimmed into a little heart, the golden patch of hair glistening in the soft light. She ground up along his stomach, his shirt shifting, and when flesh touched flesh he hissed. “Good lord, you get so _hot_ ,” he groaned. “Mabel doesn’t get that warm, why do y-”

Her lips found his, planting there to shut him up. When they separated, she chuckled. “You almost get too chatty,” she noted, sitting up straight. He shrugged, and opened his mouth to speak, but no words got to escape; with an almost fluid, languid grace she slid up, positioning her muff directly over his mouth, and plopped down, putting just enough pressure on him so that he couldn’t get his mouth away from her sex. “Use your mouth for something other than words, Mr. Chatterbox,” she teased, grinding down gently.

Apparently, he was all too happy to oblige; the rough skin of his lips and his muscular tongue seemed to be built for the task, moreso than they were for making out. He would suckle at her clit, then his tongue would lash out, sliding down the cleft of her entrance, then curling back up along as it scooped the taste of her back into his mouth. His hands lifted, only to fall on her waist, thumbs grazing over the points of her hipbones. Whenever her hips shifted, he would moan into her, sending little electric jolts through her system as his mouth vibrated.

“Okay, Lady Mabelthorpe returns triumphant, the bounty of chinese cuisine in hand, and-” Mabel’s voice announced as she came back in through the door. She paused when she saw Pacifica seated squarely on her brother’s face. If they had heard her, they gave no sign, the blonde giggling and gasping happily, her brother’s hips writhing against the floor. Turning around, she quickly deadbolted the door, then sat the bags of food down on the table nearby. Marching silently over, she stepped on either side of Dipper’s legs, then placed a hand on either of Pacifica’s shoulders.

“O-oh! Hi Mabel, ah!” Pacifica managed to say, tilting her head back to look the female Pines twin in the eye.  She wore a hazy, satisfied grin, occasionally digging her top teeth into her lower lip before her mouth would open in a silent little moan of pleasure. Mabel leaned down a bit, the added weight causing Dipper to mumble something out that was lost between the blonde’s thighs. “S-sorry, your brother has his mouth full.”

“So will you, soon enough,” Mabel muttered, tilting Pacifica’s head back again and pushing their mouths together. There was no malice in her voice before the kiss, only the tone of ‘how dare you start without me’. As their tongues intertwined, Pacifica’s mind blanked, logic and reason tuned out by pure, raw, hormonal lust.

Between the living room floor and her bedroom, Pacifica had no memory of that time. One moment she had been riding her boyfriend’s face, while she made out with her girlfriend. The next thing she recalled was being on her back, on her bed, her shirt and bra lost somewhere from one room to the next. As well as everyone else’s clothing.

Mabel sat, with Pacifica’s head in her lap, at the head of the bed. Dipper knelt, his manhood sheathed in a rubber sleeve that one of the twins had produced from… somewhere, did it matter? All Pacifica knew was she was ready. Her legs divided at his touch, curling around his waist as he slid forward. He held there, poised, ready to enter. Leaning down, he kissed along her collarbone, then up to her chin.

“You’re absolutely certain you’re ready?” he asked. She growled playfully.

“If you don’t hurry up and fuck me, I’ll get out a certain sexual aid in my bottom drawer and do it to you inst-” she started, teasing, but with one slow, smooth push of his hips, he silenced her. Her mouth hung open, a silent gasp turning into a low moan. Her eyes rolled up and locked onto Mabel’s. “He f-feels so much bigger than he looks.”

“Always has,” Mabel stated, fingers gently clearing a stray hair or two from the blonde’s forehead. Dipper merely chuckled, the sound gravely in his throat as it intermingled with a lustful growl, his hips pulling back and driving forward again. Pacifica squeaked, and then again, and again, every movement he made methodical and planned.

His hips would roll against her backside when he bottomed out, causing his length to brush along spots against her inner reaches she didn’t know would tingle in that way. Every time he would pull back, she felt an aching emptiness, only for it to swiftly be replaced by that overwhelming, blissfully full feeling again. One hand cupped under her knee, the other bracing over her shoulder, before his pace went from slow and determined to quick and aggressive.

Pacifica’s eyes shot open, and darted from one pair of brown eyes to the next, as if trying to ground herself in the moment, to be certain it was real. Just seeing them wasn’t enough, she needed more. She grabbed her lover by the back of his head, tugging him down into a kiss.

The second their lips met, his thighs slapped up against her backside again, with more power. Then again, and again. She broke the kiss to wail out in pleasure, head tilting back. Mabel chuckled, petting along Pacifica’s cheekbones.

“Careful, bro-bro, we don’t wanna break her,” she mumbled teasingly. Pacifica managed to quirk a small, defiant grin up at her girlfriend.

“F-fucking… try me…”

“She gets awfully chatty when she gets worked up,” Dipper stated, mimicking her tone of voice from the living room floor earlier. He punctuated his statement with a slap of hips-to-hips, and another squeal, followed by a string of begged curses slipped from the twins’ lover’s lips. “Think she can put her mouth to better use?”

Without a word, Mabel parted her own thighs, letting Pacifica’s head fall to the mattress before shifting and, with a small wiggle, plopping her hindquarters over the blonde’s face. Almost immediately, she felt her tongue go to work. “Oh my friggin’ gawd, b-best idea ever, Dip,” she giggled out. Her hips rocked in time with her brother’s, the two meeting one another’s lips in the middle, then breaking for Mabel to mumble, “Sweet lord she’s got me on a hair-trigger, w-won’t last long…”

He nodded confirmation, his hips grinding to hers firmly, one hand shifting to run his thumb between her legs. The second his thumb touched her there, Pacifica’s body jolted as though she had been hit by lightning, back attempting to arch, and Mabel started to moan harder. Muffled sounds of delight emanated from under his sister, matching the pitch she was making, and Dipper knew he wouldn’t last much longer. That siren song was hard enough to ignore when it was just him and his sister; to have Pacifica there, harmonizing with her? His sexual stamina was doomed.

Pacifica’s muffled shriek of delight was the first to call out, likely alerting every one of her neighbors to the fact that somebody was getting laid, and damned well too. Mabel and Dipper seemed to synchronize mere moments afterwards, Mabel starting to cry out, but tugged into a feverish kiss as her brother was rocked by his own climax. Half a minute or so after they had all came down off of the high from their respective orgasms, Pacifica’s mumbling grew in volume. Eventually she ended up pinching Mabel’s backside, causing her to roll off to the side with a reflexive yipe.

“Okay… I can… breathe… again,” she huffed, licking over her lips, eyes closed dreamily. Dipper managed a quiet, but potent belly laugh.

“Yeah, Mabes kind of forgets the people under her ass need air, sometimes.” She quickly blew a raspberry at her brother.

“Never heard you complain before,” she retorted.

“Did I sound like I was complaining…?”

“Oh my god, even after sex you two are insufferable dorks,” Pacifica laughed.

“Yeah, but we’re your dorks!”

“Yeah, yeah… I suppose.” She beamed a dreamy smile at both of them. “I love you, both of you, so so much…”

———

———

**_=Late December=_ **

Pacifica stared out of the van’s back window, daydreaming. In the front seat, Mabel bounced along to whatever ancient boy-band music she had managed to talk Dipper into leaving the radio station on. Dipper, meanwhile, focused squarely on the road ahead. The roads were patchy with snow, and Oregon Winter’s were known to be a little more heinous than the current weather, so he seemed to be driving cautiously.

He did everything cautiously, but that was one of the things that had enamored her to him so. His sister, meanwhile, was a loose cannon, a creature of impulse. That had also appealed to a side of Pacifica. The two were like two sides of the same coin; the kind that you never spent, you held onto it forever and ever.

That thought caused a worrisome sigh to escape her, fogging up the window. In the fog she scribbled a little heart, and inside the letters “P&M&D”, smiling a bit forlornly at it. How long was this going to last? Something was bound to mess it all up, to break them all apart. This relationship felt as temporary as the fog on the window itself.

“What’s up, Paz?” Dipper’s voice snapped her out of her trance. She shook her head, blinking to clear her thoughts.

“Oh, nothing, just uncertain about being back in Gravity Falls for holiday break, I suppose? Not sure if I want to be around…” she trailed off, glancing at the new construction they had just passed. The new Northwest Manor. “Around them.”

“Well, you know Mabes and I aren’t going to make you talk to them, or anything, if you’re uncomfortable with it.” She hummed in acknowledgement, but continued to stare out the window. “Pacifica, is something else digging at you?”

“I’m… I’m fine.” She could tell by the way he stared at her in the rear view mirror that he didn’t believe her. Which, was fair; she was lying. But she worried that saying anything about it would just make what she dreaded the most come true. Mabel just glanced from her brother to their girlfriend and back again.

“Paz, if you need to talk about something, don’t hesitate, okay? We love you, we brought you to celebrate Christmas with our family, even!” she explained, smiling with excitement. “Everything’ll be fine!”

She just nodded at the enthusiastic Pines girl, and certainly hoped she was right.

———

———

The second the van rolled up in front of the Mystery Shack, a toddler with darker blonde pigtails, dressed in a heavy winter coat and boots came yelling out the front door and into Mabel’s arms. She scooped up the girl with a big show of it, pretending to be almost unable to lift her.

“Ohmigosh, Harmony, you’re getting so big, Aunt Mabel almost can’t even lift you! Where’s Papa Soos and Mama?” The little girl pointed at the door of the shack, then turned and waved to Dipper. When she saw Pacifica, her eyes grew wide and she leaned up to whisper in Mabel’s ear. “That’s your Aunt Pacifica!”

“Hiya Aunt ‘cifica!” the little girl called out before Mabel set her down. The tiny bundle of energy stomped her way back into the building with gusto. Pacifica shook her head as she walked over to Mabel, watching the little girl run off.

“Whose rugrat was that?” she quipped. Mabel audibly gasped.

“Soos and Melody’s daughter! You seriously don’t remember when they had her? Dip and me were running the shack for a month straight so they could take the time off. Five years ago?” Pacifica shrugged, a small grin of shame curling the corners of her mouth up. “Huh, guess you never did meet her when she was younger…”

Dipper walked up, trailing luggage, holding handles out to them. Each of the girls took a bag, and he shouldered the rest of the load, marching into the house ahead of them. When it seemed like he was out of earshot, Mabel leaned over to Pacifica.

“So, hey, in the van earlier. What’s goin’ on?” Pacifica frowned, glancing over at Mabel, tightlipped as ever. “Paz, something’s bothering you. What’s up?”

“I… I don’t wanna talk about it,” she grumbled. Mabel frowned at her.

“That kind of attitude got you doin’ drugs and trespassing on your birth arranger’s property,” she stated. Pacifica groaned.

“It’s nothing like that, just feeling kind of uncertain about some things.”

“What… what _kind_ of things?” Pacifica chanced a look up at Mabel and began to regret it. There was hurt in those honey-brown eyes, an eagerness to help her sort herself out. Before she could say anything, a loud gruff voice rang out from the shack’s door.

“Is that my favorite grand-niece I hear out there in the cold?! Why haven’t I been hugged yet!” Stanley Pines stood on the porch, arms crossed, a stern look on his face that was immediately replaced with a warm grin. “C’mere pumpkin, give yer Grunkle a hug!” Mabel bounded over and wrapped her arms around him, lifting the old codger off of his feet momentarily. “Ack, ribs!”

“Hehe, sorry, but you asked for it,” she told him, and he just nodded, rubbing at his back with a grunt. His eyes went from his grand-niece’s face to Pacifica’s, and she started to feel a bit like a deer in the headlights.

“Hey, Pacifica. Heard that you and uh, your p-er, I mean, Preston and Priscilla and you aren’t really on the uh, best of terms,” he said, rubbing the back of his head. It reminded her so much of Dipper. “Just so you know, a friend of Dipper and Mabel’s is practically family, you can stay here as long as you need to, alright?”

Pacifica marched straight up to the elderly gentleman and hugged him tight, burying her face in his chest. His hands just fell on her shoulders, giving a comforting squeeze.

“Thank you, Mr. Pines…” she muttered into his jacket. “I never did properly thank you for taking me in during that whole weird thing, six years ago, either…”

“Hey, hey, call me Stan, alright?” She just nodded. “Now let’s get inside out of this cold, okay?”

———

———

Pacifica woke up in the middle of the night, sitting up off the couch with a groan. Sleeping alone was so damned hard when she knew the twins were somewhere in the house. She wanted a warm body to curl up with, a pair of arms to wrap herself in. Being apart from them just made her dwell more on the concept of it all being a temporary, fleeting part of her life. She dreaded the thought. But to risk that kind of thing while she was here, to possibly out the twins to their own family? She couldn’t bear the thought.

“Maybe a drink of water’ll help,” she grumbled to herself, standing up and shuffling through the house. Floorboards would creak and moan under her footfalls, which only seemed to make her angrier. When she managed to remember where the kitchen was, she pointed herself that way and shuffled along. About ten feet from the doorway, she heard low voices, and paused. Dipper and Mabel, certainly, were at least two of them. They seemed to be talking about something very serious, too. The other voice she recognized as Stan, gruff and slightly disapproving. The fourth and final voice was warmer, less gravely than Stan’s, but sounded just as old; clearly Ford. Whatever was being discussed wasn’t an argument, but it seemed to be very important. She placed one foot in front of the other to get closer, and instantly the entire house seemed to squawk, announcing her presence.

“Well fuck, might as well stop creepin’ around,” she mumbled under her breath. She rounded the corner with a yawn that quickly became a sigh. “Evening.”

“You okay, Paz? You look rough.” Dipper was frowning with concern. She sighed again, and shrugged.

“Couldn’t sleep, kinda thirsty…” She looked around through half-open eyes at the crowd gathered around the table. Everybody was staring at her. “Did I interrupt something?”

“No, no, just a small family discussion,” Ford explained, pushing his glasses back up his nose. “I promise, it’s nothing to concern yourself with.”

Pacifica looked at the other three, all in turn, as she walked to the sink. They were all quiet. Dipper and Mabel looked anxious. Something was definitely up, but she couldn’t place it. Not with the lack of sleep addling her thoughts. She quietly chugged the glass of water, set the empty cup in the sink and turned to walk back out. She paused at the doorway, turning and looking back at the twins. Dipper caught her gaze and fired a hopeful smile her way. Mabel was too busy studying the table’s woodgrain pattern to notice. Pacifica just nodded at Dipper and turned back to walk down the hallway.

As she lay down on the couch, she heard the voices start back up. Right before she fell asleep, she realized what seemed so off about the energy in the room, and everyone’s stiff, uncertain posture.

Dipper and Mabel had been holding hands.

———

———

The next few days seemed kind of high strung. Everybody was in good spirits, but there was a noticeable tension. Pacifica felt like she wanted to scream, sometimes, because she would try to catch both of the twins, either together or alone, just to talk and quickly they would lose any modicum of privacy.

What was worse, was the twins’ great Uncles were hot on her heels. If she even tried to have a moment alone, they were there, checking up on her. She didn’t mind that they all wanted to make sure she was okay, so much as that the people that she really needed to talk to were constantly avoiding her, or unable to be found alone. It was driving her insane.

It was only when Christmas Eve rolled around that Pacifica had finally had enough. Around midnight, when she was certain everybody else had gone to sleep, she started up the stairway to the attic, pillow and blanket bundled under her arms as she made sure to approach as quietly as possible, in case the twins happened to be asleep. Upon cresting the top of the staircase, however, she heard hushed voices. Biting her lower lip, she resisted the urge to try to eavesdrop and gently knocked at the door.

“Hey, who’s still up at this hour-Paz!” Mabel gasped, yanking the blonde into the room as soon as she had the door cracked open. Soft, cherry flavored lips found hers almost immediately, followed by a tight hug. “I’m so so so so SO sorry we haven’t been able to get alone time the last few days!”

Pacifica eyeballed the attic; it still hadn’t changed. Even the mold spots were the same! Well, except maybe that one, or was it bubblegum? She looked over to spy Dipper sitting up on the edge of the bed, his hands clasped together in his lap. Both of the twins were still fully dressed in their pajamas so clearly they hadn’t been having secret hanky-panky sessions without her. At least not tonight.

“So, I… I’ve been meaning to ask you guys…” They both just watched expectantly. They certainly weren’t making it any easier. “What, uh… what was the family meeting about?”

The twins stared at one another. Mabel bit into her lower lip, and Dipper rubbed the back of his neck. Not a good sign. She sighed and shuffled over to the bed, sitting next to Dipper, Mabel following along and spreading herself out across their laps like a giant cat.

“I think I have a slight inkling,” she said. Both twins stared at her. With a sigh she grabbed each twin’s hand, then set them overtop of one another. “When I was trying to fall asleep, I realized I saw this,” she noted, tapping their hands, “on the table.”

She was met with silence. She groaned and hugged around herself.

“You’re out, to your Uncles, I mean. Right?” Dipper shrugged. She glowered at him.

“Okay, I-yes, kind of? They asked some rather vague questions, we gave rather vague answers, and Stan said he suspected something for the last year or so. But nobody’s really outright said anything…” he finally admitted. She nodded.

“Did… I come up at any point?”

“Stan wanted to know why we insisted on dragging you along for the trip when you wouldn’t want to be near your… I mean, near the other Northwests.” Dipper wrapped an arm around her and gently kissed right at her temple. She’d learned that to be a wordless ‘I love you’, and felt her cheeks start to redden. “We told them you’re pretty important to us, and we didn’t feel right leaving you alone for the holidays. As far as they’re concerned, you’re an honorary Pines.”

She nodded, wiping away a couple of nervous tears. “I rather like being an ‘honorary Pines’, you know?”

“Girl, as far as my bro-bro and I are concerned, you’ve been a Pines since we went to see _Stuffed_ ,” Mabel muttered lazily. She looked like she was barely awake, stretched across both sets of legs. Pacifica felt herself blush even harder.

“R…really?”

“Of course, silly. We love you,” she replied, reaching up with a lone finger to tap Pacifica on the nose. “Boop.”

“Can… Can I sleep up here with you guys, tonight? Even if I’m just on the floor, I can’t be alone another night.” Dipper gripped the bundled up comforter on the bed they were sitting on and chucked it onto the floor.

“We’ll all sleep on the floor, Mabel, get your bed stripped. We’re fortin’ up.” Mabel was suddenly wide awake, bouncing off of their legs and arranging chairs and other furniture as she excitably built the blanket fort.

“Paz, get me some more of those pillows! Dipper, hold this blanket here while I weigh it down,” she instructed, both of them chuckling while they obeyed her sudden orders. Within minutes, they were all inside the makeshift fort, snuggling together. After they all three exchanged ‘I love you’s, they were out in no time.

Pacifica slept easier than ever before.

———

———

She had never started Christmas morning with pancakes, before. Holiday affairs in the Northwest family had always been rigid, soulless gift exchanges, a quick meal, and then her parents had went straight to business. The Pines family (and, by extension, her as well now) were starting the day in the kitchen.

Dipper and Stan worked together on the pancakes, while Ford and Mabel prepared some alcohol-free eggnog, coffee, and several juice varieties. Pacifica felt rather awkward, having no space in which to contribute immediately, and resigned herself to at least setting the table. When everything was ready, they sat down to eat.

As she ate her share of pancakes, sausage and bacon, Pacifica noted how it felt a lot like the morning after her party, back in July. The party that had, inevitably, somehow led to her sitting at this table with her honorary family. She smiled to herself, happily munching away. Under the table, she felt Mabel run a socked foot along the back of her leg, causing her to squirm ticklishly, until she playfully nudged the Pines girl with her elbow. Dipper looked up at the two, struggling to hold in laughter, and rolled his eyes.

Once the meal was complete, Stan and Ford offered to do the dishes, freeing up the twins and Pacifica to go get the gifts arranged under the tree. Mabel was gone before Stan could finish the word “gift”, up the stairs in a flash. She trudged back down with several large boxes, a dozen bags, and plenty of small, individually wrapped boxes. Dipper helped by taking some of it, while Pacifica had no idea what to do with herself.

“Here, just, uh, hand me gifts Mabel drags in here, I’ll get them set up,” Dipper offered. Pacifica had no argument at all, glad to be included in the process.

“To be honest, this kind of feels like it’s actually my first real Christmas. Not the materialistic affair that my old family used to do.” Dipper cast a thoughtful frown her way. “Well, they were power hungry, money grubbing thieves and liars, dear. It’s not like they had any concept of family like you guys have.” She frowned, despite her good mood. “Wish I’d had a family like this growing up.”

“You have it now,” Dipper reassured her, leaning over to kiss at the corner of her mouth. She blushed furiously. “And I hope for years to come.”

“Wait… what? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing, just Dipper being sentimental and saying that he loves you, right?” Mabel said, quickly running into the room with a final load. She gently knocked her toes into her brother’s knee. “ _Right?_ ”

“Ow! Uh, of course.” Pacifica regarded the twins curiously. Neither one said another word. She simply decided to chalk it up to Pines twin weirdness.

Unwrapping gifts was a lengthy and laughter filled activity, with each person unwrapping their gifts in turn until they were all done. Everybody had a sweater from Mabel. Stan had received a multitude of gift cards as well as some unmarked bills. Dipper was given a copy of Ford’s newest journal, along with a fresh batch of books. Mabel was drowning in yarn and other various art supplies, as well as a new grappling hook. Ford had been gifted books on scientific theories that had been proven while he was off somewhere else (Pacifica had never really gotten the story of where, just yet).

Pacifica was honestly uncertain what to think of a lot of her own gifts, though, as there seemed to be no real theme like there was to what the others received. There were handmade gifts from Mabel, books from Dipper that normally, she would have never found interesting but spending time with the twins had changed her viewpoints. The Grunkles had collaborated on their gift, it seemed, and both chipped in for gift cards to her favorite fashion stores.

There were no ponies, no fancy jewelry, no absurdly expensive gifts here. Everything seemed to have been made or purchased for her with some sort of usefulness in mind. She felt a lone tear threaten to sneak out of the corner of her eye.

“Thank you all. I’m so glad to have a family like you guys, even if it is just honorary,” she muttered. Mabel cleared her throat and elbowed her brother.

“Aaactually…” she began, “There’s one more gift, or two, kinda, sorta, that we-that is, Dipper and I-wanted to give you.”

“Oh, uh, yeah.* He cleared his throat, and got that look on his face that meant he was trying to think of the speech he’d tried to memorize ahead of time. “Me and Mabel, I er, that is, Mabel and I wanted to ask… why is this so hard?” He glanced over at Stan and Ford. Stan raised his eyebrows as if to say ‘get on with it’, and Ford rotated his hand to try and coax words out of his grand nephew.

Before his nerves could get the best of him, Dipper stood up, stepped in front of Pacifica and got down on his knees. Then he lifted one back up. “What are you doing…?”

He dug his hand into his pocket, and produced a small jewelry box. Pacifica felt her heart lurch, and her throat tighten. Her lip quivered as she repeated her question, barely above a whisper.

“What are you doing?!”

“Pacifica Elise Northwest,” he started, closing his eyes, and taking a deep breath. “Five months ago, you came rushing back into Mabel and I’s lives in a way we never could have predicted. The last few months have been spectacular.”

Tears were streaking down her face. “ _What are you doing?!_ ”

“I-I mean, we, Mabel and I-know that there’s no way we can make it one hundred percent official, at least not in the states. Even Gravity Falls doesn’t have weird bylaws to do what we really want to. But we promise, if you agree, to find a way to make it as official as we can.”

She couldn’t even speak now. Dipper opened the box; inside were two separate rings. Each one had a small peridot on either side of a larger diamond. The rings were staggered in the box to reveal that, if worn together, the diamonds would form a heart, bordered on either side by the peridots.

“Will you become a Pines, for real?”

She wiped tears from her eyes, blinking rapidly to clear her vision.

“Will you marry us?”

Pacifica leapt from the couch and tackled Dipper, smothering him in kisses. Mabel had tears budding in the corner of her eyes as she slunk down onto the floor to join the smooch-fest, laughing as she tugged her brother and girlfriend into a sitting position.

“I take it that’s a yeMMMFFF!” Mabel asked, cut off by the blonde girl cramming their lips together.

“Yes, yes! Gods yes, I never wanna be apart from either of you again. You’re the best family I’ve ever been a part of,” she sobbed, clinging to both of them. “Weirdness and all. I love you so much…”

She looked up at Stan and Ford, a look of apprehension falling across her face. “I… oh god this must be so confusing for you both,” she said, but they both just shrugged.

“Eh, I’m not exactly an expert at the whole ‘relationship’ thing…” Stan began.

“I saw some pretty weird things all across the multiverse, this barely tips the scales,” Ford mumbled at the same time, wearing an honest grin.

“… BUT, I know a thing or two about family nowadays. And Pacifica, kiddo? You’re family now, we wouldn’t turn you away for the world.”

Pacifica had never been more happy to have a family in her life.

_**-End-** _


	5. Bonus Chapter

The last thing Preston Northwest expected when he walked into the boardroom was for there to be an assembled meeting.

Many of the company’s- _his_ company’s-directors were seated around the long, expensive, hardwood table. The some dozen or so individuals, mostly older men, were mumbling among themselves until he swung open the door.

“And what, pray tell, are you all doing in here? I don’t remember organizing any meeting.” He noticed Hodgin’s directly avoiding making eye contact. Bleistein was also refusing to meet his gaze. With a perked brow, he made it a point to look at each board member and noticed almost all of them were pointedly ignoring his presence. “If none of you can tell me what this is about in the next instant, I’ll see to it you all receive severe cuts to your various pensions.”

“Actually, Preston,” a familiar voice rang out from the very end of the table. From his seat. His tall backed office chair that he had sat in some many times swiveled around, and he felt an eyebrow twitch when he saw who was sitting there. “You’ll do nothing of the sort.”

“Ah, I see you’ve finally showed an interest in the family business,” he mused, glaring coldly at his own flesh and blood. “Tell me, Pacifica, why are you in _my_ chair, in _my_ office building’s boardroom, holding a meeting with _my_ board of directors?”

“That’s simple,” she quipped, her own blue gaze fixed coldly on his grey eyes. “They aren’t yours.”

“Now see here, I own this company-”

“Thirty percent.”

“I beg your pardon?” he felt his brow twitch upon her interruption.

“You,” she said, making a point to smirk, “only own _thirty percent_ of the stock in this company.” She stood up, and picked up a file which she calmly shoved down the mahogany surface towards him.

He undid the twine holding the accordion-fold package shut and withdrew the paperwork within. Each section of documents detailed smaller companies that had been buying up shares of his company’s stock. And, at the head of each page, sat his daughter’s name as CEO. Several dozen small businesses, each buying chunks of whatever they could afford.

“And what, may I ask, is the meaning of all of this?” he requested with a sneer, tossing the papers back onto the table. The smirk on her face grew.

“Simple! I established a few startup companies while I was finishing up school. Helped foster them into successful businesses.” She nodded towards the folder of documents. “As you can see, each of those companies has purchased stock in the…” she grimaced a bit as the next words found her tongue. “The Mudflap company.” He furrowed his brow at her. “Each time, they bought just enough to keep themselves from being too noticeable. Then each company transferred their shares into a single portfolio, hosted by their parent company.”

“Again, the meaning behind all of this?” he droned with a tired, disinterested tone. She sniffed derisively.

“The meaning is _my_ company holds a fifty two percent interest in this company. I own a controlling share of the stock. So, as the majority shareholder, I’ve made it a point to hold a meeting with my new board of directors to concern changes in leadership.”

“Such as?” Preston asked, a scowl growing across his face.

“Such as the dismissal of the original CEO,” she replied, her smile cold and predatory. The hair on the back of Preston’s neck stood on end as he clenched his fists. “Seeing as how he is unfit to run the company, after deliberation.”

“And just how am I unf-” he began to argue, but she held up a hand to cut him off.

“Hodgins, if you would please answer Mister Northwest?”

The pudgy man cleared his throat and tucked his sausage like fingers together, a slight tremor passing through them. “Your dau-” he started, but he winced as he caught the word in his throat, now working to avoid the glare Pacifica was leveling at him. “Pacifica reminded us how, just over a decade ago, you very nearly bankrupt the company trying to buy something called ‘weirdness bonds’ which, as she made a very fine point, do not exist.”

“I was not in the right frame of mind. There was a cataclysmic event occurring at the time, I was trying to survive.”

“Regardless,” Pacifica interjected. “You nearly destroyed this company. After everything that happened, it did manage to bounce back after four hard years of budget cuts. Slashes to salaries across the board. To nearly everyone’s income but your own.”

Preston could do nothing but glare at them all. Each one simply stared back, and he suddenly realized that he no longer carried the weight required to order them around. He was effectively powerless. Just before the harsh reality of a forced retirement could sink in, Pacifica piped up again.

“I’ll need you to clear your personal effects out of my new office within the hour, by the way.” She grinned up at him. “But leave the drinking set. I’ve always loved the gleam of the crystal.”

=========

Pacifica strode into her new office to find him packing a few last things into a box. He grimaced as he lifted it, staring at it with disdain. Whether it was because he was being forced to clear out of what used to be his sanctum, or because he was being reduced to the same indignity of a fired cubicle worker, she didn’t know. Either way, she got a sick joy out of it.

“Now then,” he murmured once the door was closed. “What is this all really about? You walk out on everything the family name stands for nearly 6 years ago, and now here you are kicking me out of my own company. This reeks of petty revenge.”

She snorted, lifting her chin with a defiant gleam in her eye. “It’s truly more than that, Preston. You tried to have any sign that you considered me your child scrubbed away as best you could. I heard you started telling people you never even had a daughter, as though they would simply forget about it.”

“Yes, but that really shouldn’t have bothered you, should it? I heard about your queer little wedding. And that you even took your sister in law with you for the honeymoon.” She narrowed her eyes at him for that.

“I see you’ve been keeping a close eye on somebody you claim to not care about,” she noted as she stepped around him and sat in the chair at the desk. He frowned angrily at that, mustache bristling. “Would you say you’ve missed me?”

“No, I simply found myself curious how you would squander what money you still had access to after being cut off.” He watched as she picked up one of the crystal tumblers from a small, silver tray and then opened a small decanter of scotch, which she drizzled into the glass slowly as she listened. “Then, it turns out that most of our… personal investiga-”

“Spies.” she corrected him, voice calm and level. “Most of your _spies_.”

He grit his teeth. “Most of them had been paid off to ignore you, it seemed.” He frowned at her. “I can see why, now.”

“Yes well, if I learned anything of use from you, Preston,” she explained, “it was that greasing the right palms can open a great many doors, and also lock the ones you want to keep closed.”

He grunted with acknowledgement. “You know, Missus Northwe-”

“My last name,” she demanded, holding up her left hand. Her ring finger was adorned with an engagement ring that appeared to be able to split into two, and a solid golden band. “Is Pines.”

“Very well then,” he admitted, shrugging. “Missus _Pines_.” He adjusted the grip he had on his box of belongings and nodded at her. “I wanted to say that this was all very cut and dry, and calculated. Again, why go through it?”

“Because,” she mused before taking a small sip of _his_ scotch, from _his_ glass. “That’s just how the business world works.” With a wicked grin she swirled the amber liquid around the tumbler she gripped loosely in her fingers. “I wanted a business close to my home town. And instead of trying to open something new and unique, and watch it crumble as the local yokels give it little heed, I thought it would be better to pick something well established, something successful, and cut it out from under whoever had it.”

“So you’re telling me that this was all nothing but you seeking a place to operate whenever you returned to Gravity Falls? And nothing more?” Those cold blue eyes stared at him over the rim of the glass as she took yet another swig of the booze that used to be his.

“That’s what I’m telling you, yes.” The two stared at one another, realizing in that very moment that neither cared for this interaction to continue for much longer. Preston merely nodded, and she motioned with her free hand towards the door. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to be alone in **_my_** office.”

“Very well,” he said, shifting the box under one arm as she spun to face the window, a drop or two of rain starting to pelt the glass from outside. “I would like to say I am very impressed by all of this. A good mind for business. The drive to eliminate competition and drive people from their positions to simply get what you want, because you want it?”

He stepped closer, placed a hand on her shoulder and leaned down to mutter his next words in her ear quietly.

“You make a very fine Northwest indeed.”

Without another word, he turned and left the office.

Staring at her scowling reflection, Pacifica wasn’t sure if the water rolling down the image of her face was a drop on the outside, or a tear of frustration seeking to land in her scotch, and turn the flavor sour.

-END-


End file.
